Abstract
A fundamental task in data integration and data exchange is the design of schema mappings, that is, high-level declarative specifications of the relationship between two database schemas. Several research prototypes and commercial systems have been developed to facilitate schema-mapping design; a common characteristic of these systems is that they produce a schema mapping based on attribute correspondences across schemas solicited from the user via a visual interface. This methodology, however, suffers from certain shortcomings. In the past few years, a fundamentally different methodology to designing and understanding schema mappings has emerged. This new methodology is based on the systematic use of data examples to derive, illustrate, and refine schema mappings. Example-driven schema-mapping design is currently an active area of research in which several different approaches towards using data examples in schema-mapping design have been explored. After a brief overview of the earlier methodology, this tutorial will provide a comprehensive overview of the different ways in which data examples can be used in schema-mapping design. In particular, it will cover the basic concepts, technical results, and prototype systems that have been developed in the past few years, as well as open problems and directions for further research in this area. © 2013 Authors.