Assigning semantic types

You can assign entity, link, and property types a semantic type to identify the real-world meaning of the data. Ensuring that your semantic types are assigned accurately is important because it affects the organization and interpretation of your data.

Item and property types are aligned and interpreted based on what semantic type is assigned to them.

For example, a Car entity type and a Plane entity type can be assigned the Vehicle semantic type. Analyst's Notebook Premium aligns item types that are assigned the Vehicle semantic type, and interprets them as a type of vehicle.

You can assign semantic types to restrict the type of data that can be stored in a property type. Data types of property values must be consistent with the property's meaning.

Attention: If you are connected to multiple data sources, it is important to ensure that semantic types are assigned correctly because data alignment depends on it. Having common property semantic types help searches to retrieve similar items from all of the data sources.

You must assign a semantic type to a property type, unless all three of the following conditions apply:

  1. It is only used as a key, label, or description.
  2. It is not displayed in a report, the search results grid, or the chart data record.
  3. It has no search operators defined.
To assign a semantic type to your item or property type:
  1. Select the item or property type you want to assign a semantic type to.
  2. In the selected item or property type's tab, click Select next to the semantic type field.
    The Select Semantic Type window opens. It is the i2® semantic type library that is used by Analyst's Notebook Premium.
  3. Browse the library to find and select the semantic type that defines your data to the depth you require.
  4. When your semantic type is identified and selected, click Assign.
    Your item or property type is assigned a semantic type. You can remove this semantic type by clicking Remove.