what is rdf

The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a standard for describing web resources and data interchange, developed and standardized with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) . RDF is a general method of describing data by defining relationships between data objects. It is a model to represent data about physical objects and abstract concepts, and it allows structured and semi-structured data to be mixed, exposed, and shared across different applications. RDF is built around the existing Web standards: XML and URL (URI) . The way RDF connects data pieces together is via triples (three positional statements) . RDF statements express relationships between resources, such as documents, physical objects, people, concepts, or data objects. RDF allows describing anything, and it represents meaningful information for software applications. RDF provides a standard framework for data and metadata exchange, which is open and interoperable. RDF standard syntax allows the software to use metadata and exchange information more efficiently. RDF graphs provide much more information about entity relationships than relational databases.