Abstract
Ontology Based Data Access (OBDA) is concerned with the problem of mediating access to data sources through an ontology describing the information represented therein. As OBDA reaches into the mainstream of Semantic Web technology, a need for standardization is emerging. On the one hand, early availability of common methodologies to access and interact with systems that offer OBDA functionality would prevent the multitude of API’s and protocols that commonly appear when a new breed of systems becomes available and which complicates systems interoperability. On the other hand, a collection of software tools that provide functionality that is required by most OBDA systems could help minimizing duplication and redundancy across implementation efforts for these systems. This article presents the initial components of an Open Framework for OBDA that targets the previous issues; the first issue is addressed with an OBDA extension to the DIG 1.1 Interface; the second one with a plugin for the ontology editor Proteg´ e that provides core OBDA functionality. Both compo- ´ nents are open, extensible, and designed to accommodate the different techniques that are used in OBDA today.