The UMLS knowledge source server: an object model for delivering UMLS data.

Abstract

The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), a project of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), regularly distributes a set of knowledge sources to the research community. These data are made available over the Internet through the UMLS Knowledge Source Server (UMLSKS). The new version of the UMLSKS is a complete redesign of the original system using Java and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) technologies to implement a fast, reliable, flexible, and extensible UMLS data retrieval system that includes an Application Programmer's Interface (API) and an Object Model of each of the Knowledge Sources: the UMLS Metathesaurus, the Semantic Network, and the SPECIALIST Lexicon. In this paper we present the design of the new system, outline each of the system design goals, the UMLS Object Model, and statistics showing the usage of the new UMLSKS and associated data. We conclude with implications for future work.