Suggestion: Enhance XRONOS with Model-Based Perio.do Matching Strategy

[MartinHinz]

I had ChatGPT come up with a strategy for including perio.do data into XRONOS, here is the result:

---

This strategy integrates Perio.do periods into XRONOS by matching Typo entries to Perio.do periods (PeriodoItem) based on name and country (derived from site via context).

1. Add a PeriodoItem Model

Introduce a PeriodoItem model to store Perio.do periods.

Example schema:

class PeriodoItem < ApplicationRecord
  validates :name, presence: true
  validates :period_id, presence: true
  validates :countries, presence: true
end

Attributes:

• name (string): Name of the historical period (e.g., “Bronze Age”).
• period_id (string): Unique identifier for the period.
• countries (array or text): List of associated countries (names or Wikidata Q entities).

2. Synchronize Perio.do Data

Create a rake task to fetch and populate the PeriodoItem model with data from Perio.do.

Example task:

namespace :periodo do
  desc "Sync Perio.do data with XRONOS"
  task sync: :environment do
    require 'open-uri'
    require 'json'

    url = 'https://data.perio.do/dataset/'
    periodo_data = JSON.parse(URI.open(url).read)

    periodo_data['authorities'].each do |authority|
      authority['definitions'].each do |key, period|
        PeriodoItem.find_or_create_by(
          name: period['label'].strip,
          period_id: key,
          countries: period['spatialCoverage']&.map { |place| place['label'] }
        )
      end
    end
  end
end

Data Structure: The Perio.do dataset organizes periods within authorities, with each period containing a label and spatialCoverage (countries).

3. Match Logic in Models

a) Matching Periods to a Typo

Add a method in the Typo model to find matching periods.

Example method:

class Typo < ApplicationRecord
  def match_to_periods
    PeriodoItem.where(
      "name ILIKE ? AND countries @> ARRAY[?]::varchar[]",
      self.name,
      self.site&.country_name
    )
  end
end

Key Points:

• self.name: Matches the Typo name to the PeriodoItem name.
• self.site&.country_name: Fetches the associated site’s country via context.

Usage:

typo = Typo.find(1)
matching_periods = typo.match_to_periods
matching_periods.each do |period|
  puts "Typo '#{typo.name}' matches Period '#{period.name}' (#{period.period_id})"
end

b) Matching Typos to a PeriodoItem

Add a method in the PeriodoItem model to find matching Typo entries.

Example method:

class PeriodoItem < ApplicationRecord
  def match_typos
    Typo.joins(:sample).joins("INNER JOIN contexts ON contexts.id = samples.context_id")
        .joins("INNER JOIN sites ON sites.id = contexts.site_id")
        .where(
          "typos.name ILIKE ? AND sites.country_name = ANY(?)",
          self.name,
          self.countries
        ).distinct
  end
end

Key Points:

• Joins Sample, Context, and Site to access country_name from the associated site.
• Matches Typo names and country data with PeriodoItem.

Usage:

period = PeriodoItem.find(1)
matching_typos = period.match_typos
matching_typos.each do |typo|
  puts "Period '#{period.name}' matches Typo '#{typo.name}'"
end

4. Further Tasks

• Fuzzy Matching: Use fuzzy matching for names to handle slight differences.
• Store match results by adding a periodo_id field to a link table similar to the wikidata approach.

Benefits

• Links Typo entries to Perio.do periods using name and country, leveraging the existing relationships with site.
• Integrates seamlessly with the current XRONOS schema.
• Facilitates interoperability and historical analysis.

Potential Issues

• Name-based matching may lead to false positives for ambiguous names.
• Requires consistent and accurate country data in both Perio.do and XRONOS.

---

Related issues:

• Linked data: sites #278