XQuery as a data integration language

The appropriateness of the XQuery language for data integration is explored. The starting point is an assessment of integration capabilities in an XML-only environment. The next step is an evaluation of the degree to which one may extend these capabilities to heterogeneous environments with multiple media types and various data access protocols. This leads to the identification of a key challenge, which is the structured representation of non-XML data formats by items of the XQuery data model. The current support for such representation is reviewed, and a conceptual base is proposed for modeling the relationship between data model items and instances of non-XML formats. As special facets of data integration, the roles of REST and RDF in XQuery-based integration are discussed, and general limitations of XQuery as an integration language are acknowledged.