Transforming XML schemas into OWL ontologies using formal concept analysis

Abstract

Ontology Web Language (OWL) is considered as a data representation format exploited by the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. OWL extends XML by providing properties to further express the semantics of data. To this effect, transforming XML data into OWL proves important and constitutes an added value for indexing XML documents and re-engineering ontologies. In this paper, we propose a formal method to transform XSD schemas into OWL schemas using transformation patterns. To achieve this end, we extend at the beginning, a set of existing transformation patterns to allow the maximum transformation of XSD schema constructions. In addition, a formal method is presented to transform an XSD schema using the extended patterns. This method named PIXCO comprises several processes. The first process models both the transformation patterns and all the constructions of XSD schema to be transformed. The patterns are modeled using the context of Formal Concept Analysis. The XSD constructions are modeled using a proposed mathematical model. This modeling will be used in the design of the following process. The second process identifies the most appropriate patterns to transform each construction set of XSD schema. The third process generates for each XSD construction set an OWL model according to the pattern that is identified. Finally, it creates the OWL file encompassing the generated OWL models.