pathlinked

Pathlinked is a concept in information architecture and graph data management that describes organizing and connecting data items by explicit, navigable paths. Unlike models that emphasize only node-to-node relationships, pathlinked systems encode sequences of steps, allowing data to be traversed along semantically meaningful routes.

Each data item carries path annotations that identify its position within one or more paths. A path is a defined sequence of steps, such as root -> category -> item, or user -> session -> event. A path resolver interprets a path to retrieve targets, apply filters, or enforce access rules.

Pathlinked concepts appear in knowledge graphs, content recommendation, provenance tracking, and complex workflow orchestration. They enable path-based queries, such as finding all items along a given category path, tracing provenance chains, or generating navigable breadcrumbs for user interfaces. Pathlinked approaches can complement traditional graph traversal.

A typical pathlinked architecture includes a path store for definitions, a path index to accelerate lookups, a resolver to compute results from a path, and a policy layer for access or integrity constraints. Implementations range from augmenting existing graph databases with path metadata to building specialized path-aware stores.

Advantages include intuitive navigation, reusable path definitions, and efficient path queries. Limitations include potential path explosion, maintenance of path definitions, and added complexity in keeping paths consistent. Pathlinked systems are often evaluated alongside path query languages and graph databases when designing data access patterns. See also: path query language, graph database, provenance.