4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the canonical taxonomy and one or more mapping taxonomies are defined using a Web Ontology Language™ (OWL).
1. A computer implemented method for locating and displaying data in a taxonomy, comprising: (a) defining a canonical taxonomy, wherein: (i) the canonical taxonomy defines a standard schema and standard data format by which one or more first parts are categorized; (ii) the canonical taxonomy is not exposed to a user searching the one or more first parts; and (iii) wherein the canonical taxonomy is defined by: (1) defining one or more canonical categories in a canonical hierarchical structure for the one or more first parts; and (2) defining, in the canonical hierarchical structure, one or more canonical attributes for one or more of the canonical categories; (b) defining two or more mapping taxonomies that each defines a mapping hierarchical structure for one or more second parts, wherein the mapping taxonomies are each defined by: (i) defining one or more first mapping categories for one or more of the second parts; (ii) defining a category mapping that maps the one or more first mapping categories to one or more canonical categories; (iii) defining one or more second mapping categories for one or more of the second parts; (iv) defining a category-attribute mapping from the one or more second mapping categories to one or more of the canonical categories plus one or more of the canonical attributes; (c) processing the data based on the one or more mapping taxonomies wherein each part in the data is mapped to a canonical category; (d) receiving a search request to search the data, wherein the search request is specified in one of the mapping taxonomies; (e) retrieving a canonical category from the mapping taxonomy based on the search request; (f) searching the processed data based on the retrieved canonical category, wherein the search results includes data from at least two different mapping taxonomies; and (g) displaying, on a display device, the search results.