# [[Foreign Keys Familiar Loves - Mapping relationships in Obsidian]] ## Details Conference:: [[PKM Summit 2025]] Date:: [[2025-03-15]] Length:: 45 minutes? ## Possible titles - Many-to-Many: Modeling Love Like a Relational Database - Foreign Keys, Familiar Lovers: How Obsidian Helps Track Your Polycule - Polyamorous Knowledge Management: Tracking relationships in Obsidian - Polycules & Primary Keys: Mapping Love Like a Database - ## Abstract The more notes you have, the more you realise that linking them isn't enough. Links are great at showing that two notes are related, but they don't show *how*. Luckily, there's already a method for assigning complex relationships between elements and retrieving or visualizing them. It's called a database. In this talk, you'll learn how to treat your PKM like a database using Dataview and other community plugins. Along the way, you'll learn about alternative personal relationship styles and how to visualize an interconnected network of relationships within Obsidian. This session discusses a personal use case that won't be published, so come with an open mind about other ways to live, love, and link. ## Structure - Intro/problem statement: Links aren't enough. - Links in native Obsidian are rudimentary: they say that two notes are related, but not *how*. - Solution: semantic relationships. - Problem 2: How do you assign and save relationship information and be able to visualize them? - Databases - structured storage of data - optimized for retrieval of data - can keep track not just of the data, but metadata - Best practices already established - Your PKM as a database - Follow a consistent data model: Structured metadata - Ensure data integrity: Primary and foreign keys - Querying and retrieval - Relationships between notes: 1:1, 1:M, M:M - [[Polyamory]] - What is it? - Defining terms - Polycule - Anchor partner - Metamour - Telemour - I. Defining relationships: Obsidian properties (demo) - II. Visualizing relationships - What is an [[Entity Relationship Diagram]]? - Visual representation of relationships or linkages between entities in a system - Why is it important? - Ways to visualize [[Entity Relationship Diagram]] in Obsidian - [[Dataview]] - [[Obsidian Breadcrumbs plugin|Breadcrumbs]] - [[Obsidian ExcaliBrain|ExcaliBrain]] - [[Obsidian Excalidraw]] - ## The presentation [[sources/Presentation/Mine/Foreign Keys Familiar Loves - Mapping relationships in Obsidian]]