SHMARQL¶

SHMARQL is a small, open-source web application for publishing Linked Data "for semantic web professionals in a hurry". You point it at one or more SPARQL endpoints and it gives you, in one place:

What	Where	In short
A SPARQL endpoint	`/sparql` and `/sparql/<key>`	A standard SPARQL 1.1 endpoint that forwards queries to the triplestores you configure.
A query editor	`/query`	A web page to write, run and share SPARQL queries.
An entity viewer	`/entity?uri=…`	A readable page for any resource (IRI): labels, images, maps, properties.
A documentation site	`/`	A folder of Markdown files, rendered as a website with navigation.
Data stories	anywhere in the docs	Pages that mix text with live queries, charts, maps, IIIF images, music notation and more.
A story editor	`/lodeon/`	A visual editor (LODEON) for writing data stories and publishing them on the site.

SHMARQL doesn't store data itself. It sits in front of the triplestores you already have, or public ones such as Wikidata, which is what all the examples in this documentation use.

Who is it for?¶

Data publishers who want a friendly front end for their SPARQL endpoint, with documentation and example queries next to it.
Researchers and editors who want to tell a story with data — a query here, a chart there, a map, a zoomable museum image — without writing a web application.
Developers who want one stable SPARQL address (/sparql) that hides where the real triplestore lives.

A two-minute tour¶

With SHMARQL running on your machine (see Getting started), and the Wikidata profile from this documentation:

Open /query, keep the profile Wikidata and run:

SELECT ?painting ?paintingLabel WHERE {
  ?painting wdt:P170 wd:Q41264 .   # created by Johannes Vermeer
  SERVICE wikibase:label { bd:serviceParam wikibase:language "en". }
}
LIMIT 10

The ▶ link on the code block opens it in the query editor for you.

Click one of the painting IRIs in the result. The entity viewer opens and shows the painting as a page, with its image.
Open /story/showcase/: a data story with every kind of Special Node (query, chart, map, network, IIIF, embed, image, music) on one page.
Open /lodeon/, the story editor. Import showcase.lodeon.zip to see how that story is built, change it, and preview it.

How this documentation is organised¶

Getting started — install, run, and connect to Wikidata.
Using SHMARQL — the SPARQL endpoint, the query editor, the entity viewer and writing documentation pages.
Configuration — settings and SPARQL profiles, with Wikidata as the example.
Data stories — what data stories are, the story editor, the Markdown format and a reference of every Special Node.
Example stories — one ready-made, importable story per Special Node, for demonstrating and testing.
Troubleshooting — common problems and how to solve them.