Supporting ontology development with ODEd

Abstract

In this paper a new approach to ontology visualization is introduced, using a more than 3-dimensional space. The ontology information is represented on a 3D view-port enriched by visual cues. A preliminary application based on the presented principles is described, and results show that the approach is feasible and can actually lead to a more effective modeling process and to an easy detection of “conceptual inconsistencies”. The opinions of domain experts are also quite positive and seem to indicate that the approach is promising and can be extended for creating “user friendly” ontology editors for people with low ICT skills.