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{{Short description|Content-based retrieval of XML documents}}

XML-Retrieval, or XML Information Retrieval, is the content-based retrieval of documents structured with the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). As such it is used for computing relevance of XML-documents [7].

'''XML retrieval''', or '''XML information retrieval''', is the content-based retrieval of documents structured with [[XML]] (eXtensible Markup Language). As such it is used for computing [[Relevance (information retrieval)|relevance]] of XML documents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lalmas |first=Mounia |date=2009 |title=XML Retrieval |url=https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/XML-tiedonhaku#L%C3%A4hteet |publisher=Morgan & Claypool}}</ref>

==Queries==

Most XML-Retrieval retrieval approaches do so based on techniques from the [[information retrieval]] (IR) area, e.g. by computing the similarity between a query consisting of keywords (= query terms) and the document. However, in XML-Retrieval the query can also contain [[Data structure|structural]] [[Hint (SQL)|hints]]. So -called "content and structure" (CAS) queries enable users to specify what structure the requested content can or must have. <br>

Taking advantage of the self-describing structure of XML-documents can improve the search for XML-documents significantly. This includes the use of CAS-queries, the weighting of different XML-elements differently and the focused retrieval of sub-documents. <br>

Ranking in XML-Retrieval can incorporate both content relevance and structural similarity, which is the resemblance between the structure given in the query and the structure of the document. Also, the retrieval units resulting from an XML query may not always be entire documents, but can be any deeply nested XML elements, i.e. dynamic documents. The aim is to find the smallest retrieval unit that is highly relevant. Relevance can be defined according to the notion of specificity, which is the extent to which a retrieval unit focuses on the topic of request [4].<br>

==Exploiting XML structure==

An Overview of existing approaches is given in [1] and [5]. The INitiative for the Evaluation of XML-Retrieval (''INEX'') was founded in 2002 and provides a platform for evaluating such algorithms [4]. Three different areas influence XML-Retrieval [2]:

Taking advantage of the [[Self-documenting|self-describing]] structure of XML- documents can improve the search for XML- documents significantly. This includes the use of CAS- queries, the weighting of different XML- elements differently and the focused retrieval of sub-documentssubdocuments. <br>

==Ranking==

• '''Traditional XML query languages:'''<br>

Ranking in XML-Retrieval can incorporate both content relevance and structural similarity, which is the resemblance between the structure given in the query and the structure of the document. Also, the retrieval units resulting from an XML query may not always be entire documents, but can be any deeply nested XML elements, i.e. dynamic documents. The aim is to find the smallest retrieval unit that is highly relevant. Relevance can be defined according to the notion of specificity, which is the extent to which a retrieval unit focuses on the topic of request.<ref [4]name="INEX2006">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/homepages/andrew/2006-10.pdf |title=Overview of INEX 2006 |last=Malik |first=Saadia |author2=Trotman, Andrew |author3=Lalmas, Mounia |author4=Fuhr, Norbert |year=2007 |work=Proceedings of the Fifth Workshop of the INitiative for the Evaluation of XML Retrieval |access-date=2009-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016101202/http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/homepages/andrew/2006-10.pdf |archive-date=October 16, 2008 }}<br/ref>

Query languages such as the W3C standard XQuery [8] supply complex queries, but only look for exact matches. Therefore, they need to be extended to allow for

vague search with relevance computing. Most XML-centred approaches imply a quite exact knowledge of the documents’ schemas [6].<br>

• '''Databases:'''<br>

Classic database systems have adopted the possibility to store semi-structured data [2] and resulted in the development of XML-databases. Often, they are very

formal, concentrate more on searching than on ranking, and are used by experienced users able to formulate complex queries.<br>

• '''Information Retrieval:'''<br>

Classic Information Retrieval models such as the Vector Space Model provide relevance ranking, but do not include document structure; only flat queries are

supported. Also, they apply a static document concept, so that retrieval units usually are entire documents [6]. They can be extended to consider structural

information and dynamic document retrieval. Examples for approaches extending the Vector Space Model are [3] and [6]: they use document subtrees (index

terms plus structure) as dimensions of the vector space.

==Existing XML search engines==

An overview of two potential approaches is available.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.sigmod.org/record/issues/0612/p16-article-yahia.pdf|title=XML Search: Languages, INEX and Scoring|last=Amer-Yahia|first=Sihem|author2=Lalmas, Mounia |year=2006|journal=SIGMOD Rec. |volume=35 |issue=4|access-date=2009-02-10|doi=10.1145/1228268.1228271|s2cid=17300151}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref>{{Cite CiteSeerX |citeseerx = 10.1.1.109.5986|title=XML Retrieval: A Survey|last=Pal|first=Sukomal|date=June 30, 2006}}</ref> The INitiative for the Evaluation of XML-Retrieval (''INEX'') was founded in 2002 and provides a platform for evaluating such [[algorithm]]s.<ref name="INEX2006" /> Three different areas influence XML-Retrieval:<ref name="INEX2002">{{Cite web|url=http://www.is.informatik.uni-duisburg.de/bib/pdf/ir/Fuhr_etal:02a.pdf |title=INEX: Initiative for the Evaluation of XML Retrieval |last=Fuhr |first=Norbert |author2=Gövert, N. |author3=Kazai, Gabriella |author4=Lalmas, Mounia |year=2003 |work=Proceedings of the First INEX Workshop, Dagstuhl, Germany, 2002 |publisher=ERCIM Workshop Proceedings, France |access-date=2009-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121135758/http://www.is.informatik.uni-duisburg.de/bib/pdf/ir/Fuhr_etal:02a.pdf |archive-date=November 21, 2008 }}</ref>

• '''===Traditional XML query languages:'''<br>===

[[Query language]]s such as the [[W3C]] standard [[XQuery]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/REC-xquery-20070123/|title=XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language|last=Boag|first=Scott|author2=Chamberlin, Don |author3=Fernández, Mary F. |author4=Florescu, Daniela |author5=Robie, Jonathan |author6= Siméon, Jérôme |date=23 January 2007|work=W3C Recommendation|publisher=World Wide Web Consortium|access-date=2009-02-10}}</ref> supply complex queries, but only look for exact matches. Therefore, they need to be extended to allow for vague search with relevance computing. Most XML-centered approaches imply a quite exact knowledge of the documents' [[Database schema|schemas]].<ref name="Schlieder2002">{{Cite journal|url=http://www.cis.uni-muenchen.de/people/Meuss/Pub/JASIS02.ps.gz |title=Querying and Ranking XML Documents |last=Schlieder |first=Torsten |author2=Meuss, Holger |year=2002 |journal=Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology |volume=53 |issue=6 |pages=489–503 |access-date=2009-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610002349/http://www.cis.uni-muenchen.de/people/Meuss/Pub/JASIS02.ps.gz |archive-date=June 10, 2007 |doi=10.1002/asi.10060 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== References: =Databases===

Classic [[database]] systems have adopted the possibility to store [[Semi-structured model|semi-structured data [2]]<ref name="INEX2002" /> and resulted in the development of [[XML-databases database]]s. Often, they are very formal, concentrate more on searching than on ranking, and are used by experienced users able to formulate complex queries.

===Information retrieval===

Classic information retrieval models such as the [[vector space model]] provide relevance ranking, but do not include document structure; only flat queries are supported. Also, they apply a static document concept, so retrieval units usually are entire documents.<ref name="Schlieder2002"/> They can be extended to consider structural information and dynamic document retrieval. Examples for approaches extending the vector space models are available: they use document [[subtree]]s (index terms plus structure) as dimensions of the vector space.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cobase.cs.ucla.edu/tech-docs/sliu/SIGIR04.pdf|title=Configurable Indexing and Ranking for XML Information Retrieval|last=Liu|first=Shaorong|author2=Zou, Qinghua |author3=Chu, Wesley W. |year=2004|work=SIGIR'04|publisher=ACM|access-date=2009-02-10}}</ref>

== Data-centric XML datasets ==

[1] Amer-Yahia, S.; Lalmas, Mounia: XML Search: Languages, INEX and Scoring. SIGMOD Rec. Vol. 35, No. 4, 2006.<br>

For data-centric XML datasets, the unique and distinct keyword search method, namely, XDMA<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Selvaganesan|first1=S.|last2=Haw|first2=Su-Cheng|last3=Soon|first3=Lay-Ki|title=XDMA: A Dual Indexing and Mutual Summation Based Keyword Search Algorithm for XML Databases|journal=International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering|language=en-US|volume=24|issue=4|pages=591–615|doi=10.1142/s0218194014500223|year=2014}}</ref> for XML databases is designed and developed based on dual indexing and mutual summation.

[2] Fuhr, Norbert; Gövert, N.; Kazai, Gabriella; Lalmas, Mounia (eds.): INitiative for the Evaluation of XML Retrieval (INEX). <br>

In: Proc. of the First INEX Workshop, Dagstuhl, Germany, 2002, ERCIM Workshop Proceedings, France, 2003.

==See also==

[3] Liu, S.; Zou, Q.; Chu, W.: Configurable Indexing and Ranking for XML Information Retrieval. <br>

*[[Document retrieval]]

In: Proc. of the 27th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference, ACM Press, 2004.<br>

*[[Information retrieval applications]]

[4] Malik, Sadia; Trotman, Andrew; Lalmas, Mounia; Fuhr, Norbert: Overview of INEX 2006. <br>

In: Proc. of the Fifth Workshop of the INitiative for the Evaluation of XML Retrieval, Germany, 2007.<br>

==References==

[5] Pal, Sukomal: XML Retrieval – A Survey. 2007, Technical Report, CVPR, [http://www.isical.ac.in/~sukomal_r/survey.pdf].<br>

{{Reflist}}

[6] Schlieder, Torsten; Meuss, H.: Querying and Ranking XML Documents. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 53, No. 6, 2002.<br>

[7] Winter, Judith; Drobnik, Oswald: An Architecture for XML Information Retrieval in a Peer-to-Peer Environment. <br>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xml-Retrieval}}

ACM PIKM2007 at ACM 16th Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM 2007), Lisbon, Portugal, 2007.<br>

[[Category:XML]]

[8] World Wide Web Consortium: XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language. W3C Recommendation, 23. Jan. 2007, http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/.

[[Category:Information retrieval genres]]