Talk:Semantic layer

Add "knowledge/meaning layer" sense of the term

Proposing an addition to cover a second, non-BI sense of "semantic layer".

The current article defines "semantic layer" solely in terms of business intelligence — grounded in the Business Objects patent (US 5,555,403) and "Business Views" terminology. This is a well-established usage, and I'm not proposing to remove it.

However, "semantic layer" is also used in a distinct sense rooted in knowledge management and Linked Data standards (RDF, SKOS, OWL), referring to a layer that defines conceptual entities and their relationships to support cross-domain interoperability — notably in enterprise knowledge graphs and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems for AI. This usage is documented in W3C standards material and academic literature and appears to be increasingly common in recent enterprise-AI contexts, but the article doesn't currently mention it at all.

Proposed change: Add a new section (working title "Knowledge/meaning layer" or "Semantic layer in knowledge management") after the existing BI-focused content, and lightly adjust the lead to note that the term has two related but distinct connotations. I may expand on the current patent history, but will not remove it or edit it.

Draft sourcing for the new section:

Hilger, J., Tesfaye, L., & Wahl, Z. Bridging Knowledge, Data, and AI: Harnessing the Semantic Layer Framework to Drive Intelligence. Springer, Cham, 2026. https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/bridging-knowledge-data-and-ai/52385290#TOC — Book-length treatment defining the semantic layer, its components, and its relationship to knowledge graphs and AI.

Lefebvre, H., Wixom, B. H., Legner, C., Van der Meulen, N., & Beath, C. "The Case for a Semantic Layer." MIT CISR Research Briefing, Vol. XXVI, No. 5, May 21, 2026. https://cisr.mit.edu/publication/2026_0501_SemanticLayer_LefebvreWixomLegnerVandermeulenBeath — Defines a semantic layer as a system of technologies and techniques organizing a consistent, unified representation of data interpretable by both humans and machines, broader than the BI-metrics framing currently in the article. Note: MIT CISR is an academic research center (MIT Sloan) with named academic authors, but its research is funded by a member-organization consortium and full briefings are gated to members; only the public abstract/definition should be cited without further access.

Isaac, A. & Summers, E. "Key choices in the design of Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)." ScienceDirect (peer-reviewed), documenting the W3C Semantic Web Deployment Working Group's design of SKOS between 2006–2009. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570826813000176

W3C. "SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Primer." https://www.w3.org/TR/skos-primer/ — Describes SKOS as a bridging technology between informal, socially-mediated tagging and the formal logic of ontology languages like OWL

Foote, K. D. "A Brief History of Semantics." Dataversity, February 22, 2023. https://www.dataversity.net/articles/brief-history-semantics/ — Traces "semantics" from Michel Bréal's 1883 coinage through Robert Floyd's 1967 work on programming-language semantics. Independently cited in a Springer Nature academic book chapter ("Understanding the Semantic Layer," 2026), which supports its reliability as a secondary source for historical background specifically.

Helyxchase (talk) 20:22, 9 July 2026 (UTC)