Freebase: Discussion about Freebase

Developer Support: MQL - Identifiers are NOT immutable??

2009-11-25T08:23:55.0045Z

While identifiers are in theory mutable, in practice they will be pretty much constant. This is especially true for keys in the /en namespace, which can be edited only by Metaweb staff and bots.

Each topic does have a guid, which is guaranteed to always refer to the same node in the graph. However, there's no guarantee the semantic content of that node won't change: the most obvious case here is the merger of two topics, in which case one of the nodes is replaced with just a simple pointer to the other.

Mine: Dated length and depth?

2009-11-25T06:18:57.0014Z

It would be good for presenting a chart of mine depth over time, but it depends if the data is available.

Even the wikipedia article for the world's deepest mine has very little data on depth over time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TauTona

But quite a lot of data on production over time - it might be an idea to place a CVT between Mine and mined material to allow the mass extracted in a year to be noted.

Tunnel: Tunnel comments

2009-11-25T06:12:59.0056Z

That would make sense - both Tunnel and Tunnel bore on a single bore tunnel topic.

How many properties should we remove? Just width and maximum_height? or length, greatest_depth, width & maximum_height? Should tunnelling method go as well?

Mining Extraction Method: Vertical display

2009-11-25T06:01:39.0012Z

done

General Support: How to list the original 78rpm recordings?

2009-11-25T03:40:17.0027Z

Is it as a single, such as http://www.freebase.com/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f80000000027be414 ? Do you have to know what's on the flip side to list a track as an album? -JGReidy

jgreidy: Welcome

2009-11-25T02:47:27.0018Z

OK, I think I unlinked and undid my changes. Thanks.

Manuscript: Written Work

2009-11-25T01:48:03.0024Z

I don't really know, what do you think ? Thank you very much for the 1000 manuscripts ! Would you like this type in your Psychology domain ?

http://www.freebase.com/view/user/carmenmfenn1/default_domain/psychoanalytical_theory/-/user/carmenmfenn1/default_domain

Port of Call: Enumerated Type help

2009-11-25T00:32:48.0010Z

Tom,

I'm having difficulty setting the enumerated type for that particular property of Max Vessel Size. Can you help ? I've added you as alternate administrator.

Let me know and thanks again, Thad

Port of Call: Schema suggestions

2009-11-25T00:20:15.0001Z

AH HA! So that's what enumeration should really be used for. Thanks Tom !!!

The S/M/L is in fact proportional to the length of either over or under 500 feet.

I did in fact add all those help tips on all of the properties. (but I've noticed you have to click the little help ? question mark on the individual little popup box) I wish Freebase would fix that and actually show the help tips with an actual help box as they do in other areas of the site. Maybe they are working on that ?

-Thad

Port of Call: Schema suggestions

2009-11-25T00:14:55.0045Z

Things are looking good here. I'd suggest adding documentation/help to the properties and types so that people who are doing data entry know what is expected. For instance, it wasn't clear to me that max ship size was Small/Medium/Large as opposed to a length. If it's going to stay a short list like that, I'd suggest making it an enumeration so that people can just pick one of the values.

I'll try to review more closely later, but just thought I'd give you some quick feedback on what I'd looked at so far...

jgreidy: Welcome

2009-11-25T00:11:04.0001Z

You linked your person topic on your user profile to James Reidy. You'll want to edit that with a new topic representing you. Also you'll probably want to revert any changes (like birthdate) on the James Reidy topic.

jgreidy: Welcome

2009-11-24T23:58:26.0006Z

I'm not dead, yet. How do I do that?

jgreidy: Welcome

2009-11-24T21:59:31.0008Z

Hi jgreidy, and welcome to freebase. I noticed that you linked your user to the person topic James Reidy. That James Reidy is a dead Irish politician - it's doubtful that that topic represents you. You should probably unlink your profile from that topic and create a new person topic about yourself and add your information there. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

General Support: Need help on this view

2009-11-24T20:56:43.0013Z

Thanks for your help!

Things are coming along (with several bugs I'm reporting) but so far so good.

Check it out at http://ports.freebase.com

Developer Support: MQL - Identifiers are NOT immutable??

2009-11-24T20:33:27.0028Z

Hi, I'm new to freebase. Reading the MQL references. Under section 2.3 saying Identifiers are not immutable. My question to this - it does not make sense to me...e.g. if I created an app and have built a MQL to retrieve basketball player Kobe Bryant info. i.e. {"id" : "/en/kobe_bryant"...}...now this id refers to the basketball player Kobe Bryant. If someone altered this identifier to point to someone/something else...then it will break the app and at least will get the wrong info....how can this possible for the app development standpoint...please advice...and thanks for your explanation in advance. May be i am missing something.

Mine: Dated length and depth?

2009-11-24T20:08:50.0037Z

Should the length and depth properties be date-mediated? For mines currently being worked, it seems like these values would keep changing. In which case the properties should be non-unique, instead.

Mining Extraction Method: Vertical display

2009-11-24T20:07:11.0023Z

The "mines" property should probably have a vertical, rather than horizontal, display.

Tunnel: Tunnel comments

2009-11-24T20:03:53.0018Z

The denormalization bothers me a tad, especially the Tunneling Method property. What if we decided that single-bore tunnels should be typed both as Tunnel and Tunnel Bore, and therefore removed the bore-specific properties from the Tunnel type entirely? Admittedly, this is a slightly unusual structure in Freebase (we only use a similar convention for Awards and Award Categories), and would require users to add the Tunnel Bore type manually to single-bore tunnels.

General Support: Need help on this view

2009-11-24T18:42:13.0018Z

I'm kind of guessing here (perhaps someone who's actually done it can help out), but I think what you need to do is move your draft type into the new Ports of Call base and then add topics to the view there. To move the type, go to the "Your Types" tab on the left hand side of the home page, select Move in the upper right corner, check the box next to your Port of Call type and select the Ports of Call base in the pull down menu below.

I think you should get a new view related to the type in your base after you've done this. If you go to the view and add topics there, they should show up in the base.

Hopefully a staff member or someone who's actually done this will chime in and clarify the stuff that I'm guessing at if this doesn't work.

General Support: Need help on this view

2009-11-24T18:04:02.0001Z

I already have a Ports of Call type defined here... http://www.freebase.com/type/schema/user/thadguidry/default_domain/port_of_call

I can't seem to be able to "attach it" to the ports.freebase.com however, but my reading docs leads me to believe that your supposed to add topics to a particular base. I can't seem to add ANY of my Port of Call topics such as Port of Houston to my Port of Call base.

I am using the web browser and going into the base as an administrator.

Thanks for the help, Thad

Tunnel: Tunnel comments

2009-11-24T10:24:31.0000Z

Agreed, I'll fix it.
In a strict definition, yes - although not always man-made or reinforced. The properties of structure are certainly useful, so I think structure should be included. (it can always be removed if there are any tunnels where it may be inappropriate typing)
Good catch. I propose making the properties on the tunnel type appropriate to the largest/longest/deepest of any of the bores. I've added a new property called /base/engineering/tunnel/bores which expects a new type /base/engineering/tunnel_bore. This will have roughly the same properties as tunnel, and includes the structure type. http://www.freebase.com/type/schema/base/engineering/tunnel_bore

General Support: Need help on this view

2009-11-24T06:02:41.0024Z

Can you explain what you tried and what results you expected, but didn't get? Are you using the web client at freebase.com or a custom app that reads/writes MQL?

When I look at the Ports of Call base (ports.freebase.com), I see no views defined and no types defined, so I'm not sure where you are looking when you talk about "this view."

A typical workflow would be: - create a base - create some types for the base (each type will end up with a default view/table that contains all topics of that type) - create some customized views which filter things or display on a map or ...

Does that sound similar to what you're trying to do?

General Support: Need help on this view

2009-11-24T04:51:09.0005Z

I am just learning bases and trying to get some of my ports of call topics loaded into this view. For some reason, none show. Tried adding Port of Houston and Port of Montréal

Can someone help explain ?

-THAD

Tunnel: Tunnel comments

2009-11-23T23:54:45.0019Z

Length should be unique.
Are tunnels structures? Seems like a lot of the Structure properties (engineering firm, opened, closed, date destroyed, etc.) would apply to tunnels, as well, although obviously "height" is not applicable.
What about multiple-bore tunnels? This schema seems to expect that a tunnel will be only one bore, which is probably correct: I'm thinking of the Caldecott Tunnel in particular, which currently has three bores -- two of the same length, constructed at the same time, and one of a different length and date. Looking at this from a Project Focus perspective, bores 1 and 2 would be one project, and bore 3 would be a different one. But from a Tunnel perspective, it seems to me that it's either one tunnel with multiple bores (which would have to be addressed in the model somehow) or three tunnels.

Manuscript: Written Work

2009-11-22T19:17:12.0035Z

Just wondering, shouldn't this type have Written Work as an included type?