RuralKG RDF Terms

by the RuralKG Team • last updated September 22, 2025

This page lists all classes (types of things) and properties (relationships) used in the Rural Knowledge Graph (RuralKG). The graph integrates cross-domain data covering administrative geography, public health, and justice to study rural resilience in the United States.

Our modeling approach is to reuse established, standard vocabularies where possible and define custom terms only when necessary for our specific domain connections. This page is organized by namespace, with the standard, reused vocabularies listed first, followed by the custom terms created specifically for RuralKG.

Standard Vocabularies (Reused Terms)

These terms are adopted from widely used, external ontologies to ensure our data is interoperable and follows FAIR principles.

Dublin Core (dcterms)

Used for metadata describing the RuralKG ontology itself.

  • dcterms:created
  • dcterms:creator
  • dcterms:hasVersion
  • dcterms:title

RDF, RDFS, & OWL

Core vocabularies for defining the fundamental structure and semantics of the knowledge graph.

  • rdf:type
  • rdfs:Class
  • rdfs:subClassOf
  • rdfs:label
  • rdfs:comment
  • rdfs:isDefinedBy
  • owl:Ontology

RuralKG Vocabularies (Custom Terms)

These terms are defined within the RuralKG namespace (http://sail.ua.edu/ruralkg/) to model the specific entities and relationships in our cross-domain data.

Administrative Area (adminArea)

Terms related to geopolitical entities like states, counties, and cities. These form the geographic backbone of the graph.

Classes

  • adminArea:AdministrativeArea - The top-level class for all administrative regions.
  • adminArea:State - Represents individual states within the U.S.
  • adminArea:County - Defines counties within a state.
  • adminArea:City - Represents city entities, linked to their respective counties.

Properties

  • adminArea:abbreviation - The standard two-letter abbreviation for a state (e.g., "AL").
  • adminArea:containsPlace - An object property linking a larger administrative area (like a State) to a smaller one it contains (like a County).
  • adminArea:fips - A literal property for the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code that uniquely identifies states and counties.
  • adminArea:latitude - The geographic latitude of a place.
  • adminArea:longitude - The geographic longitude of a place.
  • adminArea:name - The full name of the administrative area (e.g., "Alabama").
  • adminArea:primaryCounty - An object property linking a City instance to its primary County instance.
  • adminArea:ranking - A ranking value for a city.

Settlement Type (settlement)

Terms for classifying areas based on demographic data, particularly the Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC) from the USDA.

Classes

  • settlement:SettlementType - The top-level class for settlement classifications.
  • settlement:RUCC - Represents a specific Rural-Urban Continuum Code classification.
  • settlement:CountyStatus - An intermediary class that links a specific county to its demographic status (including RUCC) for a given year.

Properties

  • settlement:censusCounty - Links a CountyStatus entity to the County it describes.
  • settlement:code - The specific RUCC code value (e.g., "1", "9").
  • settlement:description - The textual description for an RUCC code.
  • settlement:hasRUCC - Links a CountyStatus entity to its assigned RUCC classification instance.
  • settlement:population - The population of a county for a given year.
  • settlement:year - The census or reporting year for the demographic data.

Mental Health Service (mhs)

Describes the types of mental health services available, based on the National Directory of Mental Health Treatment Facilities.

Classes

  • mhs:MentalHealth - The top-level class for all mental health concepts.
  • mhs:MentalHealthService - A specific mental health service offered (e.g., "Cognitive behavioral therapy").
  • mhs:MentalHealthServiceCategory - A broader category of services (e.g., "Trauma therapy").

Properties

  • mhs:code - The official code for a service or service category.
  • mhs:containsService - Links a MentalHealthServiceCategory to a more specific MentalHealthService that falls under it.
  • mhs:description - A description of a specific mental health service.
  • mhs:name - The name of the service or category.
  • mhs:year - The reporting year for the service data.

Treatment Provider (treatment)

Represents the facilities and organizations that provide mental health services.

Classes

  • treatment:TreatmentProvider - An entity, such as a clinic or hospital, that offers treatment.

Properties

  • treatment:address - The full street address of the provider.
  • treatment:alias - A secondary or alternative name for the provider.
  • treatment:inCity - Links a provider to its City instance.
  • treatment:name - The primary name of the provider.
  • treatment:phone - The provider's phone number.
  • treatment:providesService - Key linking property. Connects a TreatmentProvider to a MentalHealthService that it offers.
  • treatment:zipcode - The provider's postal ZIP code.

Substance Abuse (substanceabuse)

Models substances and incident types sourced from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

Classes

  • substanceabuse:SubstanceAbuse - The top-level class for all substance abuse concepts.
  • substanceabuse:Substance - A specific substance (e.g., "Heroin," "Alcohol").
  • substanceabuse:SubstanceRelatedIncident - A type of event or behavior related to substance use.

Properties

  • substanceabuse:code - An official code associated with a substance.
  • substanceabuse:description - A description of a substance.
  • substanceabuse:identifier - An external identifier, such as a Wikidata ID, used for linking to other knowledge bases.
  • substanceabuse:name - The name of the substance or incident type.
  • substanceabuse:sourceDataset - The source of the data (e.g., "NSDUH").
  • substanceabuse:year - The reporting year for the data.

Justice (justice)

Represents crime data concepts extracted from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). This vocabulary is extensive, structured into segments and their corresponding data elements.

Classes

  • justice:Justice - Top-level class for all justice-related concepts.

Segments

  • justice:AdministrativeSegment
  • justice:ArresteeSegment
  • justice:OffenderSegment
  • justice:OffenseSegment
  • justice:PropertyGroup
  • justice:VictimSegment

Data Elements (by Segment)

  • Administrative Segment Elements
    • justice:ReportDate_Indicator
    • justice:ReportingPeriod
    • justice:IncidentHour
    • justice:CargoTheft
    • justice:ExceptionalClearanceDate
    • justice:ExceptionalClearance
  • Arrestee Segment Elements
    • justice:ArrestTransactionNumber
    • justice:ArrestDate
    • justice:TypeOfArrest
    • justice:UCRArrestOffenseCode
    • justice:ArresteeArmedWith
    • justice:AutomaticWeaponIndicator
    • justice:ResidentStatus
    • justice:DispositionOfArresteeUnder18
  • Offender Segment Elements
    • justice:OffenderSequenceNumber
    • justice:AgeOfOffender
    • justice:SexOfOffender
    • justice:RaceOfOffender
    • justice:EthnicityOfOffender
  • Offense Segment Elements
    • justice:UCROffenseCode
    • justice:OffenseAttempted_Completed
    • justice:OffendersSuspectedOfUsing
    • justice:LocationType
    • justice:NumberOfPremisesEntered
    • justice:MethodOfEntry
    • justice:TypeOfWeapon_ForceInvolved
    • justice:TypeOfCriminalActivity
    • justice:BiasMotivation
  • Property Group Elements
    • justice:TypeOfPropertyLoss
    • justice:PropertyDescription
    • justice:ValueOfProperty
    • justice:DateRecovered
    • justice:NumberOfStolenMotorVehicles
    • justice:NumberOfRecoveredMotorVehicles
    • justice:SuspectedDrugType
    • justice:EstimatedDrugQuantity
    • justice:TypeDrugMeasurement
  • Victim Segment Elements
    • justice:VictimSequenceNumber
    • justice:TypeOfVictim
    • justice:AgeOfVictim
    • justice:SexOfVictim
    • justice:RaceOfVictim
    • justice:EthnicityOfVictim
    • justice:ResidentStatusOfVictim
    • justice:AggravatedAssault_HomicideCircumstances
    • justice:AdditionalJustifiableHomicideCircumstances
    • justice:TypeOfInjury
    • justice:OffenderNumberRelated
    • justice:RelationshipOfVictimToOffender
  • Shared Elements (appear in multiple segments)
    • justice:Age
    • justice:Sex
    • justice:Race
    • justice:Ethnicity