Note: This repository and wiki have been exported to https://github.com/UKGovLD/linked-data-api

summary Linked Data API Specification

This document defines a vocabulary and processing model for a configurable API layer intended to support the creation of simple RESTful APIs over RDF triple stores.

The API layer is intended to be deployed as a proxy in front of a SPARQL endpoint to support:

• Generation of documents (information resources) for the publishing of Linked Data
• Provision of sophisticated querying and data extraction features, without the need for end-users to write SPARQL queries
• Delivery of multiple output formats from these APIs, including a simple serialisation of RDF in JSON syntax

Table of Contents

1. Rationale
2. Deployment Example
3. Processing Model
   1. Identifying An Endpoint
   2. Binding Variables
   3. Selecting Resources
   4. Viewing Resources
   5. Formatting Graphs
4. Property Paths
5. Query Parameters
6. Vocabulary

Document Conventions

The examples used in this document assume that the following namespaces have been defined, unless otherwise states

|rdf|http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#| |:--|:--------------------------------------------| |rdfs|http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema# | |xsd|http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema# | |api|http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab# |

API configuration examples use the Turtle syntax for readability in the specification. This is not meant to constrain the syntaxes supported by implementations.