Gen---A Vocabulary for Linked Genealogical Data
A simple RDF vocabulary containing terms to facilitate the linking of genealogical data.
Josh Hansen
Copyright © 2012 FamilySearch
gen
An arbitrary classification of a space/time region, by a cognitive agent. An event may have actively participating agents, passive factors, products, and a location in space/time.
Place
A geolocated position
Time
A moment in time or a span of time
Family
Though it is preferred to represent families by describing the relationships between its members (parent-child, husband-wife, etc.) this class can be used to represent a group of people who are considered to be a family unit.
parent
A parent in a family.
mother
A mother of a family.
father
A father of a family.
stepParent
A step-parent of a family.
stepMother
A step-mother of a family.
stepFather
A step-father of a family.
child
A child in a family.
Family Tree
This container class should be populated with individual people, families, or other records that constitute a single 'family tree'. It is intended to help users in management of their genealogical data.
Event
An event is an occurrence that brings about a change in the state of affairs for one or more people and/or other agents. Events are assumed to occur over a period of time and may not have precise start and end points.
Individual Event
A type of event that is principally about a single person, group or organization. Other agents may be involved but the event is most significant for the principal agent.
Group Event
A type of event that is principally about one or more agents and their partnership. Other agents may be involved but the event is most significant for the partner agent.
Birth
The event of a person entering into life.
Baptism
The ceremonial event held to admit a person to membership of a Christian church.
Marriage
The event of creating uniting the participants into a new family unit, sometimes accompanied by a formal wedding ceremony. This is intended to cover a broad range of marriages including those given formal legal standing, common-law, or by convention. It is not restricted to marriages of two people of the opposite gender, but also includes polygamous and same-sex unions.
Divorce
The event of legally dissolving a marriage.
Death
The event of a person's life ending.
Burial
The event of interring the remains of a person's body into the ground.
lifeEvent
The lifeEvent property is a slight variation on bio:event in which the domain is foaf:Person rather than foaf:Agent, since genealogy is about people.
birth
Specifies a person's birth event.
death
Specifies a person's death event.
participant
Adapts bio:agent by having a range of foaf:Person rather than foaf:Agent.
Name
A personal name. Names are a class of their own to facilitate associating multiple names with the same individual, and to allow different types of names or ways of representing them.
name
A person's name.
FOAF Name
A name class aiming for maximum compatibility with FOAF. Individuals in this class are intended to be described using foaf's name properties, namely foaf:name, foaf:givenName, and foaf:familyName.
Source
A source justifying some assertion or claim of fact. The range is deliberately left as general as possible (owl:Thing) because of the unsettled state of bibliographic vocabularies. My recommendation is to use bibo:Document and its associated vocabulary, though frbr:Work seems reasonable, too. Surely there are many other options---hopefully a clear standard emerges in the future.
Monumental Inscription
The general class of monumental inscriptions, defined by Wikipedia as 'an inscription, typically carved in stone, on a grave marker, cenotaph, memorial plaque, church monument or other memorial.'
Grave Inscription
A grave inscription, such as on a tomb or headstone.
Microform
The general class of microform media, defined by Wikipedia as 'any forms, either films or paper, containing microreproductions of documents for transmission, storage, reading, and printing.'
Microfilm
A microfilm reel
Microfiche
'A microfiche is a flat film 105 x 148 mm in size, that is ISO A6.' (Wikipedia:Microform)