“The API is ReST-full and is based on the GData protocol,” said Google software engineer Matthias Zenger.

“You can insert, edit, or delete items programmatically, complementing existing input means like the Google Base front-end or the bulk upload mechanism. You can also query other users’ published content and access their items via the API.”

GData offers a standard protocol for reading and writing Web data, combining XML-based syndication formats (Atom and RSS) with a feed-publishing system, based on Atom.

Though the Atom publishing protocol specification isn’t yet finished, the final product will allow users to send a GET request for resources, like a feed or entry, and the server will return it in the Atom syndication format. Users can create, edit, or delete resources depending on need.

“The Google Base data model is a kind of RDF lite – lots of names types, simple strings in a lot of places you’d expect namespaces,” says Semantic Web developer Danny Ayers. “But it’s part of Google’s own subweb rather than the web at large, so I guess this was predictable.”

Ayers predicts on his weblog that the API could be useful in creating a Semantic Web system.

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