Hi Greg, hi everyone else,
Regarding DC support in Search Engines. We have just completed
a re-evaluation of search engine software for implementation on
our web server. We have been using Verity's Search97 for the
past Year and half now.
We, that is AMOL - Australian Museums Online. AMOL is a gateway
to Australian museums and their holdings. As part of this
gateway we provide access to 400.000 item level records from over
51 museums.
Rather than holding all records in one single database or using
expensive Z39.50 repositories a distributed search was implemented.
All records are held on various web servers around the country, stored
in plain HTML with Dublin Core metatags implemented. A web crawler
indexes these HTML pages and extracts the metatags to allow for
fielded searching.
For more infos see: http://amol.phm.gov.au/AMOL/MuseumSearch.shtml
A short summary to your questions regarding metatags and index servers:
PRODUCT NAME: Verity Search97
PRICE: somewhere around AUD 30.000 (but don't pull me up on it)
METATAG SUPPORT: YES
METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
OS: UNIX, NT
(meaning you can implement your own metatags including Dublin Core)
SCRIPTING: Verity Search Script
DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
COMMENTS: This search engine also works with "zones" which means
you can define you own "HTML"-tags and search between those.
This potentially opens the door for XML. The price depends on
the indexing option of the search spider local indexing is
cheaper than remote indexing. Setup is somewhat painful and
requires a lot of documentation studying, especially if you
want to support Dublin Core metatags. Ad on required for ODBC
indexing. If you like to torture your self want to tweak the
last bit out of the software because you would like implement this
really bizarre search option go for this one.
PRODUCT NAME: Infoseek's Ultraseek
PRICE: starting from US$ 1000 (10.000 documents up to US$ 250.000
(unlimited documents)
METATAG SUPPORT: YES
METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
OS: UNIX, LINUX, NT
SCRIPTING: PYTHON
DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
COMMENTS: This is a super easy to use search engine. From installation
to your first indexing job will be about 30 minutes. Dublin Core
metatags are configured in another 2 Minutes. XML support is in beta
an will come soon. Doesn't support ODBC indexing yet. If you can't
index your web site with this baby there is something wrong with
you. Even my grandmother could use this product (if she could
speak english). Unfortunately this comes with a very hefty price tag.
If money doesn't matter go for this one!!!
PRODUCT NAME: Altavista Search97
PRICE: US$15.000 (they are constantly changing their prices so check
their web site for more info)
METATAG SUPPORT: YES
METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
OS: UNIX, NT
SCRIPTING: ?
DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
COMMENTS: This product is actually based on Verity's Search SDK,
hence it supports self defined metatags. We haven't done much testing
but it seems to work okay.
PRODUCT NAME: Microsoft Index Server 2.0
PRICE: free (included in service pack 4)
METATAG SUPPORT: YES
METATGS CONFIGURABLE: NO (?)
OS: NT (only)
SCRIPTING: ASP (which means any ASP scripting language)
DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
COMMENTS: It's free, so don't complain if it can't do everything you
want it to do. It doesn't come with a remote indexer. Metatag support
is somewhat strange. Even after extensive documentation reading I
couldn't get the metatags to work. (If anyone knows how to please let
me know.) If you need a remote indexer either go for MS-Site Server 3.0
or program your own (see literature recommendation for more info).
PRODUCT NAME: Microsoft Site Server 3.0
PRICE: AUD 1.800
METATAG SUPPORT: YES
METATAGS CONFIGURABLE: YES
OS: NT (only)
SCRIPTING: ASP (any ASP scripting language)
DEMO FOR DOWNLOAD: YES
COMMENTS: This is actually a web site suite. The search engine builds
on MS Index Server 2.0 and extends it by a few functions such as remote
indexing capabilities and better support for metatags. I haven't been
able to test it's XML functions yet. It does ODBC indexing out of the
box and has great authentication and knowledge management potential.
It also comes with a hole range of example solutions on the CD to
help you implement and utilize it's full potential. I don't want
to recommend this product just yet. But should you have a WinNT only
environment on your Intranet/ Internet have good look at this product.
LITERATURE:
Wes Sonnenreich: Guide to Search Engines, Wiley Computer Publishing,
1998, price: US$ 34.99
good book on search engines and search engine technology, describes
installation of various products: Ultraseek, Altavista Search, etc.,
also explains how build your own search engine, web crawler including
source code
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
definite web site on search engines, also offers a newsletter for
a nominal monthly fee
Greg MacGowan wrote:
>
> [This message is being cross-posted. Please excuse any duplication.]
>
> I am in the midst of implementing a new search engine on our server, but
> have been asked to do some "blue-skying" and project what kind of more
> advanced search engine we might want to implement in the near future
> (anywhere from 6 months to 3 years down the road). I would very much like
> to implement something that can handle metadata, particular advanced
> syntaxes such as Dublin Core or RDF. My understanding is that no are no
> search engines currently available that can effectively handle metadata. Is
> that right? Can anyone peer into their crystal ball and predict when this
> kind of functionality will be on the market, either in a search engine or
> as a plug-in to a search engine? Thanks very much for any advice you can
> give on this subject.
>
> Greg
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> Greg S. MacGowan
> Information Technologies Coordinator (and Webmaster)
> Brandeis University Libraries
> P.O. Box 9110 Mailstop 045
> Waltham, MA, USA 02454-9110
>
> phone: (781) 736-4690 (W)
> fax: (781) 736-4719
> mailto: [log in to unmask]
--
Thomas Hofmann
AMOL Coordination Unit
email: [log in to unmask]
www: http://amol.phm.gov.au/
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we are all foreigners at some point
rage against racism...
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