Northstream demonstrator

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Introduction

The Optique platform is a solution that integrates several modules developed by the different expert groups of each university using the Information Workbench – semantic integration platform – developed by fluid Operations AG, also member of the project.

The Northstream demonstrator is a specific setup of the Optique platform, including a set of scenarios related to the domain of manufacturing of products. It also comes with a training database, corresponding ontologies and mappings and a stream engine, which together enables users to get hands-on experience without the need to cope with a tedious setup, technical barriers or security restrictions.

Northstream Technical Scope

Please bear in mind that Northstream demonstrator is an deliverable provided for education purposes only.

Northstream demonstrator is a fully functional end-to-end solution for End-Users containing:

Visual Query Formulation System
Access and Configuration of Data Sources
Ontology and Mapping Management, including
- Bootstrapping Module
- Fully fledged and built-in Mapping Editor
- Functionality for Mapping Analysis
- Ontology uploading and visualisation tool
Query Transformation Component (virtual repositories)
SPARQL Federation Engine (Ontop)
Stream Processing Engine (Exareme)
Streams generator
A postgres RDBMS

Northstream Demonstrator Preview

Slideshow of different screenshots from the Northstream demonstrator. Use the arrows on the left or right of the image or the buttons at the bottom.

The Northstream demonstrator is pre-packaged as an app on top of the Information Workbench. While the database itself is not big in size, it satisfies the purpose of demonstrating the main concepts and functionalities of Optique. Optionally, external data sources can be connected, however, security constraints are often a major obstacle to overcome. Please contact us if you are interested in installing it otherwise than locally.

The Postgres database and the Stream generator connections are already pre-defined within the platform via the data source connector. Furthermore, the demonstrator is shipped with pre-installed “ready-to-run” configuration artefacts, for example, mappings and ontologies.

How to get access to the demonstrator?

Local installation:

Install and run locally 3 Docker containers. Follow the instructions :
- The Northstream RDBMS: Northstream RDBMS running on Docker
- The Stream Processing Engine: Exareme Stream process engine running on Docker
- The Stream Generator: Stream generator running on Docker
Go to the fluidOps AppCenter signup/login page.
Sign up for an account.
Wait for the confirmation e-mail. This may take up to 24 hours.
Go to fluidOps AppCenter instances.
Download Information Workbench by clicking at the version corresponding to your OS.
Unzip the downloaded file.
Run Information workbench by following OS specific instructions from the Information workbench Readme file.
Take contact with the Optique team. They will provide you with the Northstream solution App.

Usage of Chrome, Firefox or Safari internet browser is strongly encouraged as some issues are reported using Internet Explorer (mostly IE9 or below).

Show Comments

How much time is spent searching for data?

Engineers in industry spend a significant amount of their time searching for data that they require for their core taks. E.g., in the oil&gas industry, 30–70% of engineers time is spent looking for and assessing the quality of data. (Crompton, 2008)

How much value could be created in that time?

Numbers provided by Optique partners Siemens and Statoil suggest that Optique could free up a substantial amount of expert time annually in these two companies alone. The potential benefit from a more effective analysis of the data will be even higher.

Optique: a paradigm shift for data access

The project will provide a semantic end-to-end connection between users and data sources. The Optique platform will feature an intuitive, general, but adaptable end-user interface. Data can be integrated from multiple, also streaming, data sources, with the possibility for large-scale parallel cloud processing and storage.

Optique: a unique combination of technologies

The Optique project brings a unique combination of technologies to bear on Big Data challenges: An end-user-oriented query interface; scalable query rewriting from the end-user to the source vocabulary; temporal and real-time continuous stream processing; scalable storage and query evaluation using elastic clouds.