Mapping ORM into the SHOIN/OWL description logic towards a methodological and expressive graphical notation for ontology engineering

Abstract

We map ORM into the SHOIN/OWL, which is the most common description logic in ontology engineering. As SHOIN/OWL is known to be a good compromise between expressiveness and computational complexity, this implies that the ORM constraints mapped in this paper are the constraints that are easier to implement and reason about. Our mappings are implemented as an extension to the DogmaModeler tool, which uses Racer as a background reasoning engine. Furthermore, the expressive, methodological, and graphical capabilities of ORM make it a good candidate for use as a graphical notation for ontology languages. In this way, industrial experts who are not IT savvy will still be able to build and view ontologies without needing to know the logic or reasoning foundations underpinning them. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.