When integrating a Neo4j database into a Java application a developer often needs to map nodes and edges of the graph to corresponding Java classes of the domain model.

Neo4j OGM eases this work and allows us to map our domain objects to the graph database using simple annotations – similar to the Java Persistence API (JPA) for relational database management systems.

In the following tutorial I’d like to demonstrate how to use Neo4j OGM to build a simple train timetable planner and a permission system mapping between graph, nodes, edges and POJOs.

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Often in the life of developer’s life there is a scenario where using a relational database tends to get complicated or sometimes even slow – especially when there are fragments with multiple relationships or multiple connections present. This often leads to complex database queries or desperate software engineers trying to handle those problems with their ORM framework.

A possible solution might be to switch from a relational database to a graph database – and – neo4j is our tool of choice here. In the following tutorial we’re going to implement several examples to demonstrate the strengths of a graph database .. from a route planner to a social graph.

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