A UIMA Database Interface for Managing NLP-related Text Annotations

Abstract

NLP and automatic text analysis necessarily involve the annotation of natural language texts. The Apache Unstructured Information Management applications (UIMA) framework is used in several projects, tools and resources, and has become a de facto standard in this area. Despite the multiple use of UIMA as a document-based schema, it does not provide native database support. In order to facilitate distributed storage and enable UIMA-based projects to perform targeted queries, we have developed the UIMA Database Interface (UIMA DI). UIMA DI sets up an environment for a generic use of UIMA documents in database systems. In addition, the integration of UIMA DI into rights and resource management tools enables user and group-specific access to UIMA documents and provides data protection. Finally, UIMA documents can be made accessible for third party programs. UIMA DI, which we evaluate in relation to file system-based storage, is available under the GPLv3 license via GitHub.

Resources

Details