April 2025 FOLIO Updates: Introducing the New Taxonomy Explorer and Python Library v0.2.0

We’re excited to announce the launch of our redesigned FOLIO Taxonomy Explorer and major enhancements to the Python library, making it easier than ever to navigate and utilize legal taxonomies and ontologies.

Introducing the New FOLIO Taxonomy Explorer

The centerpiece of our April 2025 release is the completely redesigned Taxonomy Explorer. This powerful tool helps users navigate the complex world of legal taxonomies with an intuitive, responsive interface.

Key features of the new explorer include:

• Hierarchical Tree Navigation: Easily browse the complete taxonomy hierarchy with our expandable/collapsible tree view. The left panel provides a full taxonomic overview with clear visual indicators for navigation.

• Detailed Entity Information: Each taxonomy term displays comprehensive information including formal definition, IRI reference with copy functionality, parent classes, and alternative labels.

• Intuitive Search: Our improved search functionality instantly shows matching results (e.g., “2 matches for ‘Riparian’”) with the ability to clear filters and switch between view modes.

• Rich Metadata Display: The explorer now shows labels, synonyms, parent classes, and additional information in clearly organized sections, making it easier to understand relationships between concepts.

• Visual Classification: Taxonomy entries are visually distinguished based on their type (e.g., “Asset Type,” “Objectives,” “Riparian Rights”) with consistent color coding throughout the interface.

Python Library: Semantic Relationship Capabilities (v0.2.0)

The FOLIO Python library has been updated to version 0.2.0 with significant new capabilities focused on relationship handling:

• OWL Object Properties Support: Added comprehensive support for OWL Object Properties, enabling semantic relationship exploration between ontology classes.

• Semantic Connection Discovery: New methods to find and traverse connections between entities using labeled relationships (e.g., find_connections()).

• Property Filtering: Enhanced functionality to search and filter by property types, domains, and ranges for advanced ontology navigation.

• Enhanced Documentation and Examples: Four new example scripts demonstrating property usage, semantic connections, and relationship analysis.

These improvements make the Python library much more powerful for developers working with legal ontologies, particularly for applications that need to understand the semantic relationships between different legal concepts.

What’s Next?

We’re continuing to build on these improvements with planned enhancements to both the API and Python library. Our roadmap includes more sophisticated visualization options, expanded query capabilities, and additional tools for ontology navigation.

Resources

• FOLIO Website: https://folio.openlegalstandard.org
• FOLIO Taxonomy Explorer: https://folio.openlegalstandard.org/taxonomy/tree
• FOLIO API GitHub Repository: https://github.com/alea-institute/folio-api
• FOLIO Python Library GitHub Repository: https://github.com/alea-institute/folio-python
• PyPI Package: https://pypi.org/project/folio-python/