Neo4j graph database realizes efficient storage performance of oilfield ontology

PLoS One. 2018 Nov 16;13(11):e0207595. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207595. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The integration of oilfield multidisciplinary ontology is increasingly important for the growth of the Semantic Web. However, current methods encounter performance bottlenecks either in storing data and searching for information when processing large amounts of data. To overcome these challenges, we propose a domain-ontology process based on the Neo4j graph database. In this paper, we focus on data storage and information retrieval of oilfield ontology. We have designed mapping rules from ontology files to regulate the Neo4j database, which can greatly reduce the required storage space. A two-tier index architecture, including object and triad indexing, is used to keep loading times low and match with different patterns for accurate retrieval. Therefore, we propose a retrieval method based on this architecture. Based on our evaluation, the retrieval method can save 13.04% of the storage space and improve retrieval efficiency by more than 30 times compared with the methods of relational databases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biological Ontologies
  • Database Management Systems
  • Databases, Factual
  • Information Storage and Retrieval / methods*
  • Oil and Gas Industry*
  • Search Engine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology Innovation Work (Grant No. 2015IM010300 to FG). China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation Shengli Oilfield Branch Ocean Oil Production Plant provided support in the form of salaries for authors, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.