Topic Finder

A web service for guesstimating the primary FoaF "thing" described in an RDF/XML file.

FoaF is most commonly used as a way of self-description, akin to a machine readable homepage. But FoaF is also about describing relationships between people, so most FoaF files include (minimal) descriptions of other people as well. As such, it can be hard -- sometimes even impossible -- to determine who is the primary "topic" of a FoaF file.

This service attempts to determine which "thing" (person, organization, etc.) is the primary topic, returning a minimal RDF/XML document describing only that "thing". Currently, the following ways of locating the primary topic are tried in order, based on a transformation of the FoaF Schema and the definitions of properties that are declared as having an rdf:type of owl:InverseFunctionalProperty:

A statement about the foaf:topic of the page, referencing another node using rdf:nodeID or rdf:resource.
A statement about the foaf:topic of the page, containing the node in question.
Only one "thing" is described.
Only one "thing" is described using owl:InverseFunctionalProperties.
Only one "thing" is described using more than half of the used owl:InverseFunctionalProperties.
Only one "thing" described with more properties than the total number of "things" described.
Only one "thing" described with more than average number of properties.
The first "thing" described with more properties than the total number of "things" described.
The first "thing" described with more than average number of properties.
The first "thing" described.

If no "things" are found, a document without statements is returned, otherwise the statements involving properties that are declared as having an rdf:type of owl:InverseFunctionalProperty or declared as an rdfs:subPropertyOf rdfs:label are returned.

Update: This service now supports autodiscovery - supply the URI of a homepage with an embedded link, and the FoaF file will be examined.