While relational databases such as MySQL or SQL Server model relationships through joins, graph databases provide an opportunity to both assign relationships, but also add further context to those relationships. A graph database models data through relationships. Neo4j is a provider for a particular kind of database called a graph database. I currently sit on EarthCube’s Leadership Committee, so, as much as this post is driven by my own interest, it’s also got an element of propaganda to it.ģ A Brief Introduction to Neo4j and Graph Databases Since then I have been co-PI on an award to help integrate the Neotoma Paleoecological Database and Paleobiology Database through a common API (currently in development as the EarthLife Consortium). I’ve been involved with EarthCube since an early workshop at the University of Wisconsin focused on community standards for geochronology, user needs and capacity building. EarthCube is defined as “a community effort to promote interdisciplinary geoscience by enabling technology, organization, and culture that facilitates connectivity through standards and protocols to existing and emerging resources.”, so I thought I would take the opportunity to leverage a few emerging technologies to look at connectivity across the organization.

1 Using Neo4j to Explore NSF EarthCube AwardsĮarthCube is a set of funded projects, supported by NSF’s Geosciences directorate and the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure.

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