Freebase API @ HackTO 2

The Freebase API

Shawn Simister, September 2010

An entity graph of people, places, and things.

13 million entities

Every entity has one or more IDs

Each entity has one or more IDs

/en/u2

/m/0dw4g

/wikipedia/en_id/52780

/authority/facebook/u2

/authority/musicbrainz/name/ARTIST197

...

Entities are connected

… with meaningful properties

Approx. 400 million connections

Where does the data come from?

Freebase schema

10,448 Propertiesdescribing ...

4,936 Types*organized into ...

641 Domains(~72 Commons)

*types with 10 or more instances

One entity, many types

Person/people/person

Actor/film/actor

Politician/government/politician

/en/arnold_schwarzenegger

Freebase CommonsAmerican FootballArchitectureAstronomyAutomotiveAviationAwardsBaseballBasketballBicyclesBiologyBoatsBooksBroadcastBusinessCelebritiesChemistryComputersConferences

CricketData worldDigicamsEducationEngineeringEventsFashionFictional universesFilmFoodFreebaseGamesGeologyGovernmentHobbies and interestsIce hockeyInfluenceInternet

LanguageLawLibraryLocationMartial artsMeasurement unitMedia commonsMedicineMeteorologyMiltaryMusicOlympicsOperaOrganizationPeoplePeriodicalsPhysical geographyPhysics

ProjectsProtected placesRadioRailReligionRoyaltySoccerSpaceflightSportsSymbolsTennisTheaterTimeTransportationTravelTVVideo gamesVisual arts

Developing applicationswith Freebase data

REST API

http://api.freebase.com/api/service/mqlread Read structured data

http://api.freebase.com/api/service/mqlwrite Write structured data

http://api.freebase.com/api/service/search Free text search

http://api.freebase.com/api/service/topic Simplified topic data

... and more

http://www.freebase.com/docs/web_services

MQL

Metaweb Query Language

Rhymes with “pickle”

JSON format

Query by example

Querying Freebase

[{"id" : null,"name" : null,"type" : "/film/film"

}]

Query results[{

"id" : "/en/3_10_to_yuma_1957","name" : "3:10 to Yuma","type" : "/film/film"

},{"id" : "/en/20_000_leagues_under_the_sea","name" : "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea","type" : "/film/film"

},{"id" : "/en/2010_the_year_we_make_contact","name" : "2010: The Year We Make Contact","type" : "/film/film"

},... and so on

}]

Querying Freebase

[{"id" : null,"name" : null,"type" : "/film/film"

}]

Querying Freebase

[{"id" : null,"name" : null,"type" : "/film/film","directed_by" : {

"id" : "/en/george_lucas"}

}]

Querying Freebase[{

"id" : null,"name" : null,"type" : "/film/film","directed_by" : {

"id" : "/en/george_lucas"},"starring" : [{

"actor" : {"id" : "/en/harrison_ford"

}}]

}]

http://freebase.com/tools/queryeditor

Libraries

freebase-python (best supported)http://code.google.com/p/freebase-python

Other languageshttp://wiki.freebase.com/wiki/Libraries

Acre

http://acre.freebase.com

Templating language

<acre:block if=”f”><h2>$f women with this name, including ...</h2><ul acre:for=”w in women”>

<li><a href=”http://www.freebase.com/view$w.id”>$w.name</a></li></ul>

</acre:block>

<acre:block if=”m”><h2>$m men with this name, including ...</h2><ul acre:for=”m in men”>

<li><a href=”http://www.freebase.com/view$m.id”>$m.name</a></li></ul>

</acre:block>

http://www.freebase.com/docs/acre_templates

Freebase Suggest

http://code.google.com/p/freebase-suggest/

Everything you need to get started is available in the wiki

http://wiki.freebase.com/wiki/HackTO2

Thank you