UML Profile for OWL

Abstract

Abstract. The paper presents Ontology UML Profile (OUP) that is based on OWL and a metamodel -Ontology Definition Metamodel. OUP is defined in the context of the MDA four-layer architecture and current the OMG's effort for ontology development. The proposed UML profile enables usage of the well-known UML notation in ontology development more extensively. Ontology UML Profile: An OverviewThe Semantic Web and its XML-based languages are the main directions of the future Web development. Domain ontologies are the most important part of the Semantic Web applications. In order to overcome the gap between software engineering practitioners and AI techniques, there are a few proposals for UML usage in ontology development [1]. But, UML itself does not satisfy needs for representation of ontology concepts that are borrowed from description logics, and that are included in Semantic Web ontology languages (e.g. RDF, RDF Schema, OWL, etc.). The OMG's Model Driven Architecture (MDA) concept has the ability to create (using metamodeling) a family of languages that are defined in the similar way like the UML is. Currently, there is a RFP (Request for Proposal) within OMG that tries to define a suitable language for modeling Semantic Web ontology languages in the context of MDA [2. According to this RFP we give our proposal of such architecture, which consists of: Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM) and Ontology UML Profile (OUP) [3]. ODM is a metamodel defined using Meta-Object Facility (MOF), and is based on the Web Ontology Language (OWL).OUP enables graphical editing of ontologies using UML diagrams as well as other benefits of using mature UML CASE tools. OUP is based on the basic UML constructs (model elements) that are customized and extended with new semantics by using four UML extension mechanisms defined in the UML Specification: stereotypes, tag definitions, tagged values, and constraints. Stereotypes enable defining virtual subclasses of UML metaclasses, assigning them additional semantics. OUP support the following OWL concepts: classes, individuals, properties, and statements. Since OUP supports ontology statements we can model ontology instances using OUP. We shortly illustrate the OUP's class concept. Class is one of the most fundamental concepts in ODM and Ontology UML Profile. In ODM, Ontology Class has several concrete species, according to the class description:

Adapted Rules for UML Modelling of Geospatial Information for Model-Driven Implementation as OWL Ontologies

“…Finally, the concepts for class properties are different in the two technologies: while each class in UML is the single owner of its attributes and associations, properties are individual concepts and globally defined in OWL, and may be assigned to any class. Despite the differences between UML and OWL, some effort has been put in developing UML profiles for applying UML as a tool for OWL ontology development [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. The motivation has been to exploit the standardized graphical notation in UML-which is very useful for human communication.…”

“…Semantics for linking UML attributes to externally defined OWL properties were suggested in [44], while OGC Testbed 12 discussed and implemented conversion rules in ShapeChange, based on specific tagged values. The UML profiles for OWL described in [49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] specified how UML could be used to develop RDF and OWL ontologies specifically. However, the profiles differ significantly from the profile in ISO 19103 and cannot be applied to models according to ISO/TC 211 standards.…”