JUMP-OWL is a standards based open-specification metadata langauge.

The JUMP-OWL specification is an extension of the Web Ontology Language W3C recommendation. The JUMP-OWL file is like a WSDL for data. It provides a standards based approach for capturing details about the data including its classification, meaning, format, and constraints. It utilizes the OWL Full format and follows RDF Schema in having a higher order syntax (although first order semantics). It defines a new XML entity &dbs; to define database specific extensions. The &dbs; is a continuation of the definitions originally defined in the Relational.OWL schema.

The JUMP-OWL ontology consists of the same components as a regular OWL ontology with Individuals, Properties, and Classes. OWL classes are interpreted as sets that contain individuals. In JUMP-OWL classes define sets of related database tables. Classes are described using formal (mathematical) descriptions that state precisely the requirements for membership of the class. For example, the class ‘Test’ would contain all the instances (or individuals as they are called in OWL) that are tests in our domain of interest such as a LIMS system.

In this context JUMP-OWL also provides a number of descriptive property expressions that capture the data profiling methodology of a typical integration process. To describe the schema of a relational database with the techniques provided by OWL, we have defined reference OWL classes for Database, Table, Column, and Primary Key. In addition, we define &dbs classes for Descriptions, Formatting, and Constraints on columns in the table. These are the central knowledge representation classes realized within JUMP-OWL. This model specifies the knowledge and meaning of the tables and columns along with the possible relationships among these classes resulting in an ontology by which a relational database can easily be described.