Microsoft on Semantic Search

October 25, 2011

We were interested to learn that semantic search is alive and kicking. A helping hand may be needed, but semantic search is not on life support.

Microsoft is making baby steps toward more user-friendly services, particularly in the realm of semantic search. MSDN Library offers information and assistance for developers using Microsoft products and services. I found one reference article while browsing the site that I found particularly useful.

“Semantic Search (SQL Server)” is an write up which is still in its “preview” stage, so it is short and has a few empty links, but it provides quite a bit of insight and examples that are very useful for someone attempting to integrate Statistical Semantic Search in SQL Server databases. This process, we learn, extracts and indexes statistically relevant key phrases and uses these phrases to identify and index documents that are similar or related. A user queries these semantic indexes by using Transact-SQL rowset functions.

The document tells us:

Semantic search builds upon the existing full-text search feature in SQL Server, but enables new scenarios that extend beyond keyword searches. While full-text search lets you query the words in a document, semantic search lets you query the meaning of the document. Solutions that are now possible include automatic tag extraction, related content discovery, and hierarchical navigation across similar content. For example, you can query the index of key phrases to build the taxonomy for an organization, or for a corpus of documents.

The article goes on to explain various features of semantic search, such as finding key phrases in a document, finding similar or related documents, or even finding the key phrases that make documents similar or related. Add in storage, installation, indexing, and we have a good move in “how-to” for Microsoft. With Powerset, Fast Search, and Cognition Technologies, Microsoft should be one of the aces in semantic search.

Andrea Hayden, October 25, 2011

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.