Abstract. Works on ontology versioning pay special attention to the logical analysis of ontology evolution. The paper considers extensible declarative approach to ontology change description. Metric temporal description logic with metric temporal modalitie

Ontology Evolution Analysis with OWL-MeT

Natalya Keberle1, Yuriy Litvinenko,

Yuriy Gordeyev, Vadim Ermolayev

Dept. of IT, Zaporozhye National University,

Ukraine

nkeberle@gmail.com, jurlit@rambler.ru,

ygchaos@mail.ru, vadim@ermolayev.com

Abstract. Works on ontology versioning pay special attention to the logical

analysis of ontology evolution. The paper considers extensible declarative

approach to ontology change description. Metric temporal description logic

with metric temporal modalities “future n” and “past n” and hybrid satisfaction

operator @ is proposed as the logical basis for declarative ontology evolution

analysis. Underlying time structure assumed to be linear and discrete, which is

acceptable for modeling of ontology versions sequence. Introduced is OWL-

MeT – metric extension of the Web ontology language OWL, which is

supported with a reasoning engine under development on the basis of Pellet

reasoner.

1 Introduction

Ontology versioning and change detection are one of the Semantic Web research challenges [1]. Many previous efforts at providing ontology versioning have focused on the differentiation of the conceptual and explication changes [2], on the identification of an ontology in the Semantic Web [2], [3], on ontology change operations and their effects at the instances level [3], [4]. Change detection between similar ontologies or between versions of the same ontology when there is no version log is discussed in [5], [6]. Change detection and propagation between versions of the same ontology, when there is a version log, is investigated in [7]. Special attention is paid to the change management organization for distributed and modular ontologies [8], [9], inconsistent ontologies [10].

The approach reported in the paper focuses on the analysis of ontology evolution, namely, compatibility and interchangeability of ontology versions, and proposes a formal declarative basis for such analysis. Indeed, an ontology is a formal theory [11], and for any two versions of the same ontology it is interesting to know whether these versions are compatible from the logical point of view, whether it is possible to use definition of an object in one version to access instances of that object in another version.

1 The work of the author is partially supported in frame of PSI project. Performance Simulation Initiative (PSI) is the R&D project of Cadence Design Systems, GmbH.