Josh Adell explains how to extend a simple recommendation engine to similarity-based collaborative filtering:

Instead of basing recommendations off of one similar rating, I can calculate how similarly you and I rated all the things we have rated, and only get recommendations from you if I have determined we are similar enough in our tastes.

This is much closer to how recommendation engines developed by sites like Amazon or Netflix are working.

Original title and link: Beer Recommendations With Graph Databases (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://blog.everymansoftware.com/2012/02/similarity-based-recommendation-engines.html

Romiko Derbynew comparing Gremlin and Neo4j Cypher:

• Simple graph traversals are much more efficient when using Gremlin
• Queries in Gremlin are 30-50% faster for simple traversals
• Cypher is ideal for complex traversals where back tracking is required
• Cypher is our choice of query language for reporting
• Gremlin is our choice of query language for simple traversals where projections are not required
• Cypher has intrinsic table projection model, where Gremlins table projection model relies on AS steps which can be cumbersome when backtracking e.g. Back(), As() and _CopySplit, where cypher is just comma separated matches
• Cypher is much better suited for outer joins than Gremlin, to achieve similar results in gremlin requires parallel querying with CopySplit, where as in Cypher using the Match clause with optional relationships
• Gremlin is ideal when you need to retrieve very simple data structures
• Table projection in gremlin can be very powerful, however outer joins can be very verbose

So in a nutshell, we like to use Cypher when we need tabular data back from Neo4j and is especially useful in outer joins.

Patrick Durusau

Original title and link: Gremlin vs Cypher (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://romikoderbynew.com/2012/02/22/gremlin-vs-cypher-initial-thoughts-neo4j/

As I often run the same course, it would be interesting to calculate my average pace at specific locations. When combining the data of all of my courses, I could deduct frequently encountered locations. Finally, could there be a correlation between my average pace and my distance from home? In order to come up with answers to these questions, I will import my running data into a Neo4J Spatial datastore. Neo4J Spatial extends the Neo4J Graph Database with the necessary tools and utilities to store and query spatial data in your graph models. For visualizing my running data, I will make use of Gephi, an open-source visualization and manipulation tool that allows users to interactively browse and explore graphs.

This looks like a great application of a graph database for analyzing geo data. And it’s very practical.

Original title and link: Neo4J Spatial and Gephi for Smart Data Analysis (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://datablend.be/?p=1255&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonuKzKZKXonjHpfsX56%2BsrXaOg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YAFTtQhcOuuEwcWGog8zglXDuWWdI5P9vpaEg%3D%3D

Max De Marzi:

Gremlin is a domain specific language for traversing property graphs. Neo4j is one of the databases that can speak the gremlin language, and as promised I’ll show you how you can use it to implement friend recommendations as well as degrees of separation.

Original title and link: Friend Recommendations Using Gremlin With Neography (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://maxdemarzi.com/2012/01/06/gremlin-with-neography/

Getting started with Ruby and Neo4j is very easy. Follow these steps and you’ll be up and running in no time.First we install the neography […]

The traversal API looks really nice and comes in two flavors: the Neo4j REST API and a Ruby-esque one.

Original title and link: Getting Started With Ruby and Neo4j Using Neography (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://maxdemarzi.com/2012/01/04/getting-started-with-ruby-and-neo4j/

Graeme Rocher:

Grails 2.0 is the first release of Grails that truly abstracts the GORM layer so that new implementations of GORM can be used. […] The MongoDB plugin is at final release candidate stage and is based on the excellent Spring Data MongoDB project which is also available in RC form. […] Grails users can look forward to more exciting NoSQL announcements in 2012 with upcoming  future releases of GORM for Neo4j, Amazon SimpleDB and Cassandra in the works.

This is great news.

The very very big news would be a Grails version that doesn’t default anymore to using Hibernate for accessing a relational database.

Original title and link: Grails 2.0 and NoSQL (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://blog.springsource.org/2011/12/15/grails-2-0-released/

Neo4j getting a JDBC driver before MongoDB is a surprise^[1]. Rickard Öberg:

When it comes to NOSQL databases, one of the key advantages is that they allow you to structure your data in a way that better resembles your domain, and also allows you to use query languages where you can express things that are either really awkward or slow with SQL. However, one of the advantages that relational databases have is that they can be accessed from lots of tools using JDBC, as a standard API. So what would happen if a NOSQL database, like Neo4j, also had a JDBC driver? I decided to find out!

If this catches up, the next step is adding a non-HTTP protocol to Neo4j server.

Original title and link: Neo4j Gets Experimental JDBC Driver (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://rickardoberg.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/creating-a-jdbc-driver-for-neo4j/

The relationship between a person and a project has an associated role. This relationship is also the basis for the list of collaborators: two people are collaborators if there’s at least one project of which they’re both members.

Solve this with a relational database.

Original title and link: Neo4j Domain Modeling With Spring Data (NoSQL database©myNoSQL)

via: http://skydingo.com/blog/?p=64