Property Graph Exchange Format

Abstract

Recently, a variety of database implementations adopting the property graph model have emerged. However, interoperable management of graph data on these implementations is challenging due to the differences in data models and formats. Here, we redefine the property graph model incorporating the differences in the existing models and propose interoperable serialization formats for property graphs. The model is independent of specific implementations and provides a basis of interoperable management of property graph data. The proposed serialization is not only general but also intuitive, thus it is useful for creating and maintaining graph data. To demonstrate the practical use of our model and serialization, we implemented converters from our serialization into existing formats, which can then be loaded into various graph databases. This work provides a basis of an interoperable platform for creating, exchanging, and utilizing property graph data.