Build your first Knowledge Graph dataspace, from empty to published

This tutorial rebuilds the Northwind Traders demo dataspace: the iconic sample database, reborn as an RDF Knowledge Graph. Every stage ends with a result you can see in the browser. Most steps are shown in two ways: point-and-click in the user interface, and as CLI commands you can script, version and replay. If you are new to the platform, About LinkedDataHub introduces the ideas this tutorial exercises.

Before you start, you need a running LinkedDataHub instance and the owner's WebID certificate. The Get started section covers both.

The command line examples use the ldh CLI. Download it from a LinkedDataHub release (ldh-<version>.tar.gz, needs Java 21), or build it from source with make cli. The examples rely on its environment variable defaults, set once per shell session:

export LDH_BASE="https://localhost:4443/"
export LDH_CERT_FILE="ssl/owner/keystore.p12"
export LDH_CERT_PASSWORD="..."   # the owner_cert_password secret

Stages

Ten stages, each building on the last.

Tutorial stages in order
# Stage What you do
1 Hello dataspace Give your app an identity and a landing page
2 Structure Lay out the document hierarchy
3 Model Define the vocabulary that describes your domain
4 Data Import CSV data using SPARQL mappings
5 Media Upload files and link them to resources
6 Insight Turn SPARQL queries into charts and views
7 Composition Assemble the landing page from content blocks
8 Publish Grant public access and ship it
9 App as a repository Make the app reproducible
10 Beyond low-code Where to go when data alone is not enough

In a hurry? Stage 9 shows how to replay the finished app with a single make install.