Reasoning with ontologies by using knowledge conjunction in conceptual graphs

Abstract

This paper discusses automated reasoning over ontologies represented as Conceptual Graphs. We discuss a tool which has been implemented using Conceptual Graphs as its underlying knowledge structure. The significance of this work is that we demonstrate that the power of logic as implemented in Conceptual Graphs, and the tools available in Conceptual Graph Theory can be used as powerful ontology reasoning tools in a real-world domain. We show that ontologies can be constrained and unified using efficient methods, and that these methods provide the basis for an automated reasoning system. The Conceptual Graph techniques of concept join, partial order and subsumption are all exploited to create these reasoning tools. We discuss the implementation of these ideas, and demonstrate the software tool created in two domains: building architecture and defence. Examples show that the system can reason over these domains and assist the users in their tasks. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2002.