More specifically, at OSM that's the only Q-numbers people are aware of.
I would like to share my use case ( sorry if sometimes is offtopic )
I am:
- member of Wikimédia Magyarország EgyesÌlet (Wikimedia Hungary)
- OSM meetup organizer
- in my mind: 'Q' == Wikidata ; 'Q' == Quality ( but this is a
false associations )
- I have experience working with data warehousing / relational databases
Q/P prefix for me like a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation
* "Hungarian notation aims to remedy this by providing the programmer with
explicit knowledge of each variable's data type."*
but now I am not sure:
- What is the real meaning of Q/P prefix -> Wikidata or Wikibase?
I am involved in some open geodata projects.
#1. adding Wikidata ID concordances to Natural Earth ( this is my work )
https://www.naturalearthdata.com/blog/miscellaneous/natural-earth-v4-1-0-release-notes/
#2. adding Wikidata ID concordances to https://whosonfirst.org/ ( Who's On
First is a gazetteer of places. )
#3. OSM
First time: I tried SPARQL + Wikidata Query Service
My experience:
- more and more data -> ( like: Q486972, human settlement ) -> more
timeouts ( in my complex geo queries )
(a lot of farms imported in the Netherlands area, so I have to limit the
search radius;... )
- data changes every time, so hard to write and validate complex program
codes.
After a few months, I have learned that for heavy data users the Wikidata
Query Service sometimes not perfect. ( but good for light queries ! )
So now I am loading "Wikidata JSON dump" to Postgres/PostGIS database -
and I am writing complex codes in SQL
My codes are very complex codes ( jaro_winkler distance, geo distance,
detecting Cebuno imports ; ranking multiple candidates for matching ) ;
And finally I can control the performance of the system ( not timeout
) and I have reproducible results.
for example: my simple SQL example code - you can see lot of P/Q codes
inside ,
and you can expect - now I am know lot of Q/P codes by heart !
select
wd_id
,wd_label
,get_wdcqv_globecoordinate(data,'P625','P518','Q1233637') as river_mouth
,get_wdcqv_globecoordinate(data,'P625','P518','Q7376362') as river_source
from wd.wdx
where wd_id='Q626';
And now the "Natural Earth" tables looks like this ( relational database
)
+-------------+------------+-----------+
| name | wikidataid | iata_code |
+-------------+------------+-----------+
| Birsa Munda | Q598231 | IXR |
| Barnaul | Q1858312 | BAX |
| Bareilly | Q2788745 | |
this is my current workflow.
But my real nightmare will start - if other databases start using Q/P
prefix:
for example, other Airport related databases start using Wikibase - with Q
codes
- http://ourairports.com/ ;
- https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports
- https://www.airnav.com/airports/
So every airport have at least 4 different Q codes!
And in the future, I have to check errors in this spreadsheet ( and
sometimes I don't see the header )
+-------------+------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+
| name | wikidataid | iata_code | ourairports | flightR24 | AirNav
|
+-------------+------------+-----------+-------------+-----------+-----------+
| Birsa Munda | Q598231 | IXR | Q325324 | Q973 | Q1
|
| Barnaul | Q1858312 | BAX | Q42 | Q1 | Q8312
|
| Bareilly | Q2788745 | | Q1 | Q31 | Q45
|
Q1 - everywhere - with different meanings
And what if some users want to add the new airport ID-s back to the
wikidata ( linking databases ) Why not
so in the future, If I check the https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q598231
I will see a lot of different Q codes:
Ourairports Q325324
FlightR24 Q973
AirNav Q1
And sometimes very hard to communicate for the new contributors that
Q1(AirNav) =/= Q1(Wikidata)
If I see any database/spreadsheet.
- and I see a Q code - My current expectations that this is a Wikidata
code. :)
Just check: https://github.com/search?q=Q28+hungary&type=Code
So my current opinion:
- please don't use Q/P prefixes in any new/other databases!
for me, unlearning a lot of Q/P values is hard,
so as I have more-and-more experience in Wikidata data model - I would like
less-and-less using any other Wikibase systems with similar Q/P prefixes.
My other pain point is the "Wikidata JSON dump" , a little more
information would be a big help for me:
for detecting data quality of items:
- last modification DateTime
- last modification user type ( anonym_user, new_user, experienced_user,
bot )
- edit counts by user type , for example: { anonym_user=2 , new_user=0 ,
experienced_user=0, bot=15 }
Info about wikidata life cycle
- Wikidata redirections / deletions ( now: only in the .ttl files )
I know - I am not a typical user ... and my problems, not a priority yet,
imho:
Integrating Wikidata iDs to other databases have already started ( OSM,
Natural Earth, Who's On First , ... )
and need some guideline/support for this cases - before too late.
Probably the current practice ( OSM, Natural Earth, Who's On First , ...
) is not optimal.
A few months ago - I have learned an extremely painful lesson:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T202676#4533486
quote>>>
*- "Q" does not mean "wikidata.org <http://wikidata.org>". It means "item"
and is used by all Wikibase installations so far.*
*- "Retroactively "reserving" the letter "Q" to be exclusively used by
wikidata.org <http://wikidata.org> can't work. It was never meant to be
like this, and there is no mechanism for this."- *
*- "Q" only means "wikidata.org <http://wikidata.org>" to users who know
about wikidata.org <http://wikidata.org>. These users should not have a
problem understanding that the moment an OSM Wikibase installation exists,
"osm:Q1" refers to this installation.*
<<<<quote
so now I am totally confused.
probably, my current practice is a "bad practice" ? :(
And the "Natural Earth" wikidata integrations should add a "wd:" prefix
everywhere?,
but maybe it is too late to change
+-------------+---------------+-----------+
| name | wikidataid | iata_code |
+-------------+---------------+-----------+
| Birsa Munda | wd:Q598231 | IXR |
| Barnaul | wd:Q1858312 | BAX |
| Bareilly | wd:Q2788745 | |
this is my retrospective, thank you for reading.
best,
Imre
Post by Federico Leva (Nemo)The "Q" prefix has a strong identity in itself. Anyone will instantly
say - yes, it's a Wikidata identifier
But that's because most people only know one Wikibase installation, not
the other way around.
Of course! More specifically, at OSM that's the only Q-numbers people are
aware of. All other ID systems do not have nearly the same level of
recognition. It would be silly to wait for government agencies to switch
to the Q-numbers too, right? Or to wait for 5-10 years until (and IF!) Q
numbers become more common at other projects that are large enough to
become well known, and use that potential future as a justification to not
use a much more convenient system for the next 10 years. The cost of that
10 years of "wait and see" is a significant user confusion.
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