Software for building and editing thesauri

DB

The thesaurus editor is a module of a database package

SA

A standalone thesaurus editing package

MU

A multi-user package, designed for cooperative use by teams of thesaurus developers

NC

I have not been able to contact the supplier to obtain details

NA

The program is no longer available

**

The package is included in the comparison table giving more details of its specification.

Amicus ® Thesaurus © is copyrighted (1999-2007) by Peter S. van der Jagt of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, who reserves exclusive rights to the software.

As well as standard functionality the software provides for:

• analytical notes
• translations of terms
• cross-reference to other indexing system
• translated thesauri - automatic
• permuted index - automatic
• Web publishing - automatic
• Web links to other language - automatic
• print publishing
• work sharing

Allows many forms of printed output (alphabetical, hierarchical, permuted, rotated etc.). Versions available in English, Catalan and Spanish. The program can be used with any European language compatible with ASCII CP 850 (the same character repertoire as ISO 8859/Latin 1). It was developed by Josep Sau as a private, non-commercial project; he will provide support "with good will, with no profit, but at [his] convenience".

This MS-DOS program runs noticeably faster than most of the Windows packages. It has a good graphical interface, though use of the mouse is not supported. Very full logging and statistics.

Classification Editor is currently a client-server application, which runs on SQLServer 7 or above and Windows (95 onwards) clients. A stand-alone version should be available soon. A Toolkit can be purchased which gives a Company licence to integrate the functionality and services of Classification Editor into other software services.

Links of any type can be defined in the editor, and user-defined properties can be associated with each term. The application handles polyhierarchical structures and allows the moving of complete hierarchical sub-sections at the click of a mouse.

Standard alphabetical and hierarchical outputs can be used to transfer data from one package to the other. XML import and export capabilities allow a wide range of input and output formats to be created using standard freely available scripting technologies such as XSLT style-sheets, Perl, Python etc.

- Tikit Web site and notes from suppliers, edited.

Cognatrix is fully self-contained and does not depend upon any database packages or third-party applications. You rearrange the items in the tree via drag and drop. There is no limit on the depth of the taxonomic hierarchy. Wherever possible, Cognatrix tries to avoid opening windows and dialogs. For example, you edit item names in the Type/Name column and user-defined fields in the editing area of the main document window.

Any number of user-defined notes and attributes may be created. Data is held in XML files using the Apple Property List DTD and may be exported as tab-separated text or XML conformant with either the Cognatrix or Zthes 0.5 DTDs. A free helper application, CognatrixImporter, is used to import thesaurus data in some XML and other proprietary formats.

• Main features
• • Descriptors management: as well as scope notes, historical notes, classification codes, state and related non-descriptors
  • Reciprocal relationships creation in an automatic way
  • Change management
  • Textual source management for every descriptor
  • Relationships management: those defined by the standard as well as any kind of relationship created by the user
  • Multiple and synchronized view: hierarchical, alphabetic and KWIC
  • Poly-hierarchies
  • Advanced search engine
  • Thesaurus statistics
  • Idiomatic equivalence among several languages
  • Smart removal options
  • Multiple status for every term: accepted, candidate or invalid
  • Suggestions management
  • Support of full expand and full collapse of thesaurus
  • Easy drag and drop creation of hierarchies
  • Stop-list definition
  •  
• Import and export in various formats
•  
• Reporting: the whole thesaurus or a single family
• • Alphabetical report
  • Alphabetical report hyperlinked (a html file is generated)
  • Hierarchical report
  • Hierarchical report with index (a Word file, sMS Word is needed)
  • KWIC report
  • KWOC report
  • Statistics
  •  
• Graphical visualization
• • The neighbourhood of a term
  • Overall graphical visualization
  • Navigable visualization

Spanish and English versions available.
MS Access or Microsoft SQLServer can be used to host the database

• user interface based on Lotus Domino 6.x and Web browser
• terminology developement and maintenance on standalone computers or as client server application in a network
• web browser is used for search and navigation, suggesting new terms or discussing current terms
• visualization, which can be embedded in other applications - see http://www.dandelon.com
• publishing the term base as html files or server based via Lotus Domino web server
• distributed environment with different access levels (server based only)
• language, topic, facet and text fields of variable length, usable for multimedia data
• homonyms like "bank (finance)", "bank (snow, wall)", "bank (furniture)", "bank (technique)"
• multilingual terminology
• up to 26 different thesaurus relations as default, can be reduced by Admin or expanded to any number of relationships
• automatic reciprocal relations including validation according to definable rules
• addition or change of relation types
• complete integration of thesaurus and classification concepts
• sorting of lists in several ways
• hierachical lists of classifications
• hyperlinks between all elements of the network (term - term, term - class)
• fulltext searching
• export files for MS Word, HTML, XML and some retrieval systems
• export to CAI format - for automatic indexing of documents by CAI-Engine
• Import from IC CATE - statistical ranked candidates for improving a thesaurus
• printing forms
• suggestion of new terms or discussion of active terms by end users via Lotus Notes or Web interface

Optional features

• integrated machine translation optional with powerful translation workflow, default German, English, French, more languages available.
• integration in Information Center, indexing subform
• automatic generation of new candidates for term base [Not clear what this means]

• Windows 95 or NT workstation: Pentium 166, 32Mb; NT LAN server: Pentium 166, 64Mb; Sun Solaris: Netra or equivalent, 32Mb; SGI Irix: Indy or equivalent, 64Mb; IBM AIX: RS-6000, 64Mb. Also available for Linux and other Unix systems.
• System is Java-based; interface is a standard Web browser such as Netscape 4.04.
• PostScript printer recommended. ASCII output is also available, but this may have to be formatted for printing by using external word processing software before.

• Thesaurus can be accessed and/or manipulated over the Internet. Descriptive note fields permit tracking of various details such as rationale for term selection, instructions for cataloging and retrieval, historical information, etc.
• Candidate terms and relationships may be added but remain distinct until approved.
• It is possible to create a "micro-thesaurus" by choosing one or more terms and expanding the hierarchies linked to those terms only.
• The previous version of this package, "LEXICO/2", was used by the Library of Congress to manage vocabularies and thesauri for:
  • Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
  • Global Legal Information Network Thesaurus
  • Legislative Indexing Vocabulary
  • Symbols of American Libraries Listing

Livelink Collections Server (formerly BASIS®) Webtop Thesaurus Manager (Webtop TM) is a flexible application interface to browse and maintain terms and relations managed in a Livelink Collections Server Thesaurus database. Webtop TM is available as a module of Webtop Suite and can be added to an existing Webtop configuration or can be purchased separately. [Although not stated explicitly in the data sheet, this product also seems to have superseded the thesaurus functions of BRS/SEARCH, which is now called "Livelink Discovery Server".]

The thesaurus supports 13 ANSI standard relation types including: cross-references, broader and narrower terms, related terms, abbreviations, scope notes and history notes. Webtop TM is a Web-based interface for terminology specialists to add, update, and delete thesaurus terms and relations. Built using Java and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) Webtop TM provides standard Web-based access to Thesauri extending the application development possibilities. - Data sheet.

Documentation is in German. Appears to provide full thesaurus functionality, with all the standard relationships. Handles a multilingual thesaurus with up to nine languages in addition to the primary language. Five user-defined note fields. Allows terms to be allocated bo classes, unclassified terms automaticaly inheriting the class of their broader terms. Supports polyhierarchy. Output in alphabetical, hierarchical and HTML versions.

Live demonstration version of thesaurus output is available on the suppliers' Web site, from where a demonstration version and a full manual can be downloaded.

MTM is the software for multilingual thesauri building and maintenance. It has been designed as a configurable system assisting a user in creating concepts, linking them by means of a set of predefined relations, and controlling the validity of the thesaurus structure. The system has been developed on top of Micro CDS/ISIS, as a collection of programs written in ISIS/PASCAL. The current version, MTM-4, has been developed in cooperation with INFOTERM and TERMNET (Austria).

The main features of the software are inter alia:

• thesaurus maintenance and support system;
• KWOC and full tree representation and navigation tools available on-line;
• KWIC, KWOC and full tree printouts (in an alphabetic and systematic order);
• defining and customization of up to 100 conceptual relationship types;
• management of facets, codes (top classification), sources, regional variants, historical notes, etc.;
• support of the various types of authority files;
• computer assisted merging;
• thesauri comparison by means of windows;
• support of the various alphabets;
• support of linguistic and orthographic variants;
• sorting facilities consistent with national standards;
• variable length data handling;
• flexibility in defining input and output forms;
• versatility in terms of relative ease of configuring the software for the various sets of languages;
• flexibility in defining data structures needed for a given application;
• a possibility to exchange data with other organizations and systems through exporting and importing terms and relations.

From the terminal user standpoint MTM fulfills the following criteria:

• user-friendliness when entering, updating, deleting, checking data;
• intelligent prompting of the end user whenever in doubt;
• powerful validation facilities covering proper structuring of a thesaurus (e.g. maintenance of relationship isomorphism between languages);
• features for documenting ("keeping track") the history of the thesaurus evolution;
• availability of data protection facilities;
• availability of self-training and demonstration facilities;
• provision of a thesaurus publishing facilities at the professional level;
• modularity and openness to the further development.

• Report generator allows you to select the relationships and the terms you want to print depending on various conditions (e.g. TopTerms only, approved terms only, orphans, or those terms that have a given relationship).
• HTML and XML file generator (included in the standard version at no additional charge): Creates all the .html files necessary to put your thesaurus on your Intranet or your Web Site on the Internet.

• Single user licence: 295 USD, annual maintenance 125 USD.
• Also available: network and site licences for 5, 10 and unlimited users

The Multilingual Thesaurus Development System consists of three independent subsystems not relying one on another. Each subsystem is dedicated for different applications, for users of completely different profiles, utilising the same data structures:

• Thesaurus Edition Subsystem (MTL)
• Thesaurus Keyword Querying Subsystem allowing for employment in any software working on Windows platform.
• Thesaurus Keyword Interchange Subsystem supporting keyword interchange among independent centres (Keyword Interchange Centre).

Main Advantages:

• Creation and edition of many thesauruses concurrently.
• Thesaurus structure creation: relation definition, notes definition, etc.
• Multilingual thesaurus import and its conversion to local format preserving original thesaurus structure.
• Imported descriptors selection and its linking to local descriptors.
• Equivalent descriptor usage for bibliographic entry querying in every linguistic version.
• Multilevel bibliographic entry querying with descriptors.
• Descriptors complementation (in separate field) with explanations concerning its meaning and/or usage scope (i.e. "scope notes"), separately for every linguistic version.
• Ability to interconnect the thesaurus to any system, environment, application.
• Possibility of distributed thesaurus creation, and following consolidation of parts of multilingual thesaurus developed in many centres.

[These notes are from the CORDIS Web site, presumably provided by the supplier.]

The Oracle text retrieval software seems to have been named TermServer3; ConText and InterMedia as it has been developed. It now appears to be bundled with version 9i of the Oracle database under the name "Oracle Text". This software includes a thesaurus management package.There is a lot of information on Oracle's Web sites, but it is difficult to determine which items are current and to obtain a comprehensive list of the thesaurus features. The most useful page is http://otn.oracle.com/products/text/index.html; the Technical white paper (.pdf format) listed there gives some information and illustrates the graphical interface to the thesaurus management system. Registration (free) is necessary to view these pages.

This is a module within a major database software system, not a standalone thesaurus development package. It would allow thesaurus functions to be integrated reasonably easily into any information retrieval system that was being developed using Oracle.

Especially for France: Euroclid, 5, Boulevard des Bouvets, 92000 Nanterre, France

SuperThes replaces the previous software called THESMain. It may be used in conjunction with the standalone thesaurus display package THESShow and a Web display module THESWeb is being designed.

SuperThes is used for visualisation and maintenance of thesaurus data according to DIN 1462 /ISO 2788 and DIN /ISO 5964 The application has been developed in Delphi, a Pascal dialect by Borland/Inprise. The programming language offers true object-oriented programming support as well as the stability common to Pascal programs. SuperThes runs as a client/server application. All persistent data will be kept within the relational database system Interbase.

SuperThes has an English user interface. Unicode is used so that all languages, character sets and glyphs installed on the system may be used. Thus languages like Greek, Russian but also Chinese or Hebrew do not present problems. Input method editors, which are common to Asian languages, are possible. Different fonts are also available.

Besides the main Thesaurus structure, a SuperThes Thesaurus may contain other user definable tables, which may be used to describe the main Thesaurus in a more detailed way or to keep attached data in them.

Convenient data exchange with standard office applications using state-of-the-art technologies like drag and drop, a powerful report generator and bulk data extraction using either standard file formats or XML

Synapticas server-side requirements are:

• Windows 2000/2003 Server operating system
• Internet Information Server (IIS) Web server
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000+ DBMS
• Oracle 9i+ DBMS running on Windows or UNIX

The client-side requirements are any PC or Mac with Microsoft IE or Netscape 6.0 or higher.

"Synaptica supports the creation of electronic thesauri in compliance with ANSI/NISO Standard Z39.19-1993. Features include:

• Dynamically enforced thesaurus rules-base
• Simple search (descriptors or keywords)
• Power search (over a dozen filters)
• Popup windows displaying term details
• Expandable hierarchies and relationships
• Multiple categories for a single term
• Logical delete and restore of terms
• User ID and date-time stamping
• Approval and candidate term statuses
• Concept clusters of multiple terms
• Customized term templates and descriptor fields
• Customized relationship types and behavior
• Customized data entry rules
• Online reports using report wizards
• Online CSV format output files
• Segregated data by vocabulary files and categories
• User permissions with 10 levels of privilege
• (Poly-)hierarchical, synonymous and associative relationships
• Equivalency and indexing relationships

Synaptica is a client-server web application that can be installed locally on a client's intranet or extranet server. Alternatively, Synapse Corporation can host client systems on our servers located in the Denver Technological Center in Colorado USA, which means the client needs no special equipment. Either way, systems use password-protected accounts, so users can access all of Synaptica's features from anywhere in the world using standard personal computers and web-browsers (Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher versions). - Extract from suppliers' Web site, edited.

The alphabetical printout is a list of terms without relationships. The hierarchical printout shows up to nine levels of narrower term under each top term; attached to this is a list of the terms in the same order, not showing hierarchy, but showing UF, RT, scope notes, etc. In printouts, terms are truncated to fit within the available column width. A tri-lingual thesaurus is provided for, with printout of the languages shown in three parallel columns.

A web application for managing documentation languages - especially good at hierarchical thesauri and cataloguing vocabularies but also useful for navigation structures.

Features (version 0.9) include standard thesaurus relations between terms (USE/UF, BT/NT, RT/RT). No limits on number of terms, levels of hierarchy, alternative labels. Systematic or alphabetical navigation. Multilingual interface, in English, Spanish or Portuguese.

Output in SKOS-Core, Dublin Core and ZThes formats.

Term Tree 2000 is a Windows based thesaurus management package. The Editor component is available only in standalone form to ensure control of thesaurus database changes.

Term Tree 2000 was originally designed and developed as a replacement for a 16 bit product called Hierarch. Term Tree 2000 can import existing Hierarch and MultiTes databases and import/export a defined tag format. It can export to comma or tag delimited, XML, Metabrowser meta data files and includes a feature enabling the production of static navigable web pages. The thesaurus may be exported to a Windows folder structure for use as an indexing/filing system and this includes a deployment capability producing an executable copy of this structure for distribution as required. Optional modules are available to import/export TRIM (also has live connect feature), Objective, RecFind, Hummingbird/PCDocs and Seraph record management. The suppliers can provide services to import aka, CAIRS, InMagic and other thesauri.

Term Tree 2000 uses a Windows Explorer style layout which, combined with drag and drop and multiple term selection lists, makes it easy to create and manage complex hierarchically arranged lists of information. Term Tree 2000 verifies the validity of links as the thesaurus is created and automatically constructs all required reverse relationship links.

Reports are available for:

• Concatenations from top terms down
• Term hierarchies starting from top tems
• Term relationships
• KWIC and KWOC
• Categories and Classifications

Reports may use the internal report engine or be sent to MS Word. The Term Relationship reports uses a template reporting process to permit the use of Word styles and advanced features to customise the reports.

Access 97/2000, SQL Server 7 or Oracle 8, 9 (will also work with 10 when released) can be used as the host database. Access does not need to be installed for Term Tree 2000 to operate.

Single user Editor, standalone licence, $A800.00 (about 340 GBP or 590 USD) ($A880.00 including tax for purchasers in Australia). Special deals for thesaurus developers requiring a full featured viewer product to include with their thesauri. E-mail to discuss requirements. A free demonstration kit, with sample databases, is available from the suppliers. This contains a fully operational standalone version of Term Tree 2000 with limits on number of logons and number of terms.

An interface for Oracle thesaurus functions. Bilingual (German and English) with full support for UTF-8 character set. Supports standard thesaurus relationships as well as distinguishing generic, partitive and instantial relationships and synonym rings. Import and export in Oracle and XML formats. Available in standard, professional or customised versions.

Not known.

Data Harmony Thesaurus Master^TM facilitates development and maintenance of subject-based thesauri, with the full range of thesaural relationships, and it permits importation of external taxonomies. Reciprocal relationships are validated and entered automatically. TM adheres to thesaurus construction standards (ISO 2788, ISO 5964, and NISO Z39.19) and can be set to allow polyhierarchies (Multiple Broader Terms). Terms can be designated as "accepted" or "candidate." Full search capabilities are included, searching every field of a term record or only those specified. Complete term record information is displayed simultaneously with any one of several display choices, which include hierarchy, alpha list of full term records, permuted versions, candidate terms, deleted terms, and others. Thesauri can printed as any of the display views, and can be saved as XML files or other formats. Teamed with Machine Aided Indexer^TM (M.A.I.) Thesaurus Master leads to the automatic suggestion of appropriate thesaurus terms for indexing electronic documents, drawing on a rule base that grows to reflect the editor's knowledge and understanding of the subject area.Thesaurus Master and Machine Aided Indexer can also operate independently of each other, and can be integrated into other database management systems through Java APIs. Thesaurus Master and Machine Aided Indexer are available not only for use on enterprise-wide networks, but also as single user versions, provided on CD-ROM.

Data Harmony also offers Knowledge Domains, pre-constructed thesauri and associated rule bases for a variety of different fields, such as science/technology/medicin, education, news, environment, and many more. Pricing is proportionate to the size of the domain.

The following information has been extracted and edited from a text provided by Trias Politica:

The Trias Politica Thesaurus Builder has been developed to support concurrent or parallel multi-lingual thesaurus construction and maintenance. Compliant with ISO 5964, it allows for an unlimited number of hierarchies and relationships. Version 4.0 supports 65 languages (134 including sub languages), has an extensive sort function and offers the possibility of adding images and external hyperlinks. Multiple users can be given passwords allowing individual rights. Polyhierarchical thesauri are supported. It is straightforward to convert between language directions and to generate various reports.

The Trias Politica Thesaurus Builder features include:

• Security functions for thesaurus databases
• Full multilingual thesauri support
  • Up to 134 languages per thesaurus (see below)
  • Asian languages and right to left languages
  • Auto switching between languages
• Support for one image for each term
• Support for all standard and some additional fields e.g.
  • Image, opposite term and external web address
  • Complete information properties for each translation
  • Complete information properties for each non-preferred term
• Query issue report (in background) e.g.
  • Check for multiple concept numbers for each term
  • Check for same broader terms
  • Check for related and opposite terms existing
  • Check for duplicate terms with the same parent
• HTML Generator for Windows 2000/2003 Server families
• Automatic generation of reciprocal relationships (including opposites )
• An unlimited number of user defined hierarchical and associative relationships is supported. (The first step to ontology).
• Powerful search and replace functions
• Support for polyhierarchical thesauri (multiple BTs)
• New TDE Features
• Colored RTF and XML reports
• Thesaurus statistics

• Professional: Full function. €3500.00
• Light Edition: These features are not included: Internet Functions, Security Options, Merging databases functions. €2000.00 (Unlimited number of users per location - Educational discount is available)
• Student Edition: Exactly the same as the light version, but the maximum number of preferred terms is limited to 2500 terms per thesaurus. €195.00 (Unlimited number of users per location)
• Golden Eye Edition: This edition is specially provided to view the Thesaurus Builder databases which are produced by other users. All the editing functions are removed from it, and the only available report is limited to RTF exports. Freeware

WebChoir, Inc. is an outgrowth from the Liu-Palmer collaboration, creators of the original Thesaurus Construction System.

TermChoir is a hierarchical information organizing and searching tool that enables information professionals to create and search varieties of hierarchical subject categories, controlled vocabularies, and taxonomies based on either pre-defined standards or a user-defined structure. A modified and less expensive client/server version, TCS-10, also is available (an upgrade from the original Thesaurus Construction System).

TermChoir features include:

• A fully integrated Web-based architecture that allows information and reference resources created by TermChoir to be available to information providers and seekers no matter where they may be or what computer they may be using.
• Unique indexing enables you to index and search external databases using thesaurus or subject terms created in or imported into TermChoir.
• Editing capabilities enable you to create relationships and links across hierarchies, to move a branch across hierarchies, to create poly-hierarchies, and to specify special sorting orders among siblings.
• Data may be imported and exported in a variety of formats such as ASCII, XML, and MARC. The script batch input allows experienced users to build a thesaurus quickly anywhere at any time even when and where there is no Internet connection.
• Standard reports are provided and in customised reports you can specify the data elements to be included, the ordering of the data elements, and the font and styles of the different data elements.
• Web Thesaurus Navigator enables you to create from the thesaurus a Website with alphabetical listing, hierarchical listing, and expandable hierarchical listing.
• Data validation guarantees data integrity. No conflicts or wrong data can be entered in the database.
• A flexible log viewer makes it easy to keep track of all the transactions.
• Multi-lingual support makes it possible to create thesauri in any language, while translation support enables searches entered in one language to be automatically switched to search collections in another language.
• User based permission and privileges allow you to control what information and features are accessible to what groups across the organization.
• An open platform allows you to use a variety of operating systems, including UNIX and NT, any Web server, including Apache, Netscape Enterprise server and IIS, and any client, including PC and Macintosh.
• Flexible data connection capability enables you to create a thesaurus or taxonomy in most popular enterprise-level databases, including Oracle, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server.

ViewChoir, a read-only version of TermChoir, facilitates the electronic publishing of thesauri for remote access..

LinkChoir enables thesaurus producers to consolidate thesauri and indexing vocabularies with a diverse range of client information sources. LinkChoir is used to link assigned thesaurus descriptors in records to the descriptors' thesaurus entries and relationships (synonyms, used for-UFs, broader terms-BTs, related terms-RTs, etc.) in the thesauri used in indexing, allowing indexers and searchers to browse and expand concepts. They can "click" back and forth between descriptors' thesaurus entries and those descriptors assigned to records. LinkChoir allows indexers to describe information sources using terminology organized in TermChoir, but also provides them with a utility to update the descriptors that they have used previously.

SeekChoir is a retrieval system that enables users to browse thesaurus descriptors and their references (broader terms, related terms, synonyms, etc.), allowing the searcher many ways to investigate and employ related and synonymous topics and concepts while searching. SeekChoir also allows seekers to search databases indexed by thesauri constructed in TermChoir or some other thesaurus builder application. SeekChoir supports vocabulary-enhanced keyword searches within database records. If LinkChoir has been employed to index database records, SeekChoir also supports a controlled vocabulary search of those records indexed with terms from the associated thesaurus. The user can link from a term embedded within a record back to its corresponding thesaurus descriptor and its references to further elaborate a search.

See the suppliers' Web site at http://www.webchoir.com/pricing/pricing.html. There is a wide range of products and prices from a personal thesaurus management system called "vocPuppy" costing US$49 to US$44,999 per server for "ConceptChoir".

"The Wordmap Taxonomy Management System is an industrial strength software product that allows multiple users to manipulate multiple taxonomies of any size quickly and efficiently. Using Wordmap, a taxonomy editor can be dramatically more efficient than in a generic environment.

• Compile, maintain and manage taxonomies in a visual environment using drag and drop techniques
• Make major architectural changes easily
• Add rich data to the taxonomy - synonyms, associated terminology and a wide variety of user definable attributes
• Deal easily with multilingual datasets Create ad hoc links between related subject areas
• Output the taxonomy to other applications, such as knowledge or content management systems - display it to end users in a navigation interface which can used to search an Intranet or the Internet"