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Here are a few sample Topic Maps in XTM format. Feel free to use and modify these Topic Maps for whatever purposes you like. However, if you do modify them, please do not attribute them to me.

These topic maps are provided as educational examples and programming resources only. I make no warranties or claims of verity about any of the information contained therein.

The 'Not Opera' topic map

This is a small, relatively simple Topic Map about The Clash. The Topic Map references a couple of graphics and a sample which are not included on this site for copyright reasons. This topic map was automatically generated from the original ISO-based XML topic map using the stylesheet provided by Cogitech Inc.

The Techquila Topic Map World Topic Map

This is a hand-crafted topic map created using TMTab. The topic map lists the resources, organisations and individuals involved in the world of topic maps. The topic map has not been updated for many years now and is of interest primarily as a sample topic map, rather than for the accuracy and timeliness of its content. You can browse the HTML version of the topic map or download the XTM syntax version.

The UNSPSC Topic Map

This topic map documents the entire Universal Standard Products and Services Classification (UNSPSC).

The UNSPSC is a schema that classifies and identifies commodities. It is used in sell side and buy side catalogs and as a standardized account code in analyzing expenditure (Spend Analysis). As such it is an ideal vocabulary for a number of business applications.

The UNSPSC data that this topic map is taken from was originally published by the Electronic Commerce Code Management Association (ECCMA) as a CSV file. To generate the topic map, a two stage conversion process was used. The Python script csv2xml.py was used to convert the CVS file into a form more amenable to XML processing. Then an XSLT transformation using the stylesheet unspsc2tm.xsl was used to generate the topic map. An HTML-ified browsable version of this topic map has been produced but due to size constraints it is not included on the site. You can, however download the XTM format topic map as a single file (zipped) from here.

Note

It is unfortunate to note that the UNSPSC is no longer freely available as open data.

Topic Map of the XML Schema Specification

The W3C XML Schema standards are often accused of being over-complex and difficult to read. In an attempt to assist those trying to find their way around the W3C specifications, I have created a multi-modal topic map of the specifications. In this topic map you will find indexes of the terms used by the specifications and the main concepts of XML Schema.

The topic maps are primarily created automatically using MDF to process the XML Schema specifications and the schema for XML Schema. The topic maps are then integrated by merging them with a hand-crafted topic map created using TMTab.

A static HTML site has been created from the topic maps using a custom application based on TM4J and Apache Velocity.

For more information about the creation and publication of topic maps using open-source and free software; or to get the topic map files themselves, please contact Kal Ahmed directly.