UML to RDF/OWL (based on ISO/DIS 19150-2)

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1 Overview

1.1 Summary of the changes and extensions to ISO/DIS 19150-2 supported by this target

2.6 Stereotype Mappings

2.7 Sample Configuration

Overview

(NOTE: the target behavior documented on this page is available up until and including to ShapeChange version 2.1.0)

ISO/DIS 19150-2 defines rules for mapping ISO geographic information UML models to OWL ontologies. This target derives an ontology representation from an application schema in UML based upon these rules, with a number of changes.

When this target was implemented, the ISO standard was a Draft International Standard (DIS). A number of comments still had to be resolved. The final standard differs from the DIS version (for details, see Annex A of the OGC Testbed 12 ShapeChange Engineering Report, OGC 16-020). As a result, this target is considered a draft. An updated version is available since ShapeChange v2.2.0. Its implementation is different to what is described on this page and not backwards compatible. It is documented here.

Summary of the changes and extensions to ISO/DIS 19150-2 supported by this target

The table below provides a summary how additional conversion rules differ from the standard rules specified in ISO/DIS 19150-2.

Sub-clause of ISO/DIS 19150-2	Changes, extensions, limitations	Remarks
6.2.2 Ontology Name	change and extensions	Extension: If the conversion rule “rule-owl-pkg-app-schema-code” is active, the code for the application schema is used (tagged value “xmlns” specified by GML 3.2 / ISO 19136) instead of umlPackageName Extension: sub-packages of an application schema package do not become separate ontologies, but are part of the application schema ontology, if conversion rule “rule-owl-pkg-singleOntologyPerSchema” is active Note: The URIbase is set using the parameter of the same name
6.2.3 RDF namespace	–
6.2.4 Class name	–
6.2.5 Datatype name	–
6.2.6 Property name	change	Change: The properties that become global properties are not automatically determined by the uniqueness of the property name, but explicitly controlled using the parameter “globalProperties”. If “*” is used, all properties will be global. In case of multiple properties with the same name and conflicting annotations or ranges, the conflicts need to be resolved manually.
6.2.7 Names for codelists	extension	Extension: if the conversion rule “rule-owl-cls-codelist-external” is active, code lists are not converted. See also the comments on sub-clause 6.8.2.
6.3 Package	changes	Change: dc:source is a text (specified by parameter “source”) as the rule in ISO/DIS 19150-2 is based on the assumption that the package is from the harmonized model, i.e. defined in a standard of ISO/TC 211. Change: owl:versionInfo uses the version information in tagged value “version” instead of a date.
6.4 Class	changes and extension	Extension: if conversion rule “rule-owl-all-suppress-dc-source” is active, dc:source is omitted (as the source statement in the ontology applies, too) Change: skos:notation is used for the class name, skos:prefLabel is used for an (human-readable) alias, if provided Change: skos:scopeNote is provided for a description, if provided
6.5 Abstract class	–
6.6 Class stereotype	change	Change: ISO/DIS 19150-2 includes stereotypes and tagged values in the ontology. In general, stereotypes and tagged values are UML-specific extension mechanisms. They should only be supported in schema conversion rules that map the values to naive RDFS/OWL constructs and carry relevant information. For most tags there is little or no apparent value. For example, there is no value in representing tagged values supporting the GML schema conversion rules in the ontology. Therefore, stereotypes and tagged values are in general suppressed.
6.7 Attribute7.6 GF_PropertyType	changes, extensions and a limitations	The changes and extensions listed for sub-clause 6.4 apply, too. Limitation: gcoDatatypes are not supported Change: rdfs:domain is not provided for global properties Extension: rdfs:range supports owl:unionOf for cases where multiple UML attributes are “merged” to a single, global RDF property, see comments on sub-clause 6.2.6. Extension: Attributes may be implemented using other RDF vocabularies or suppressed (using MapEntry elements in the configuration with a param=”property” or “propertyByValueType”). Extension: For ranges specified by types from the ISO Harmonized Model or other imported schemas, implementations may be specified in MapEntry elements in the configuration (param=”datatype”).
6.8.1 Enumeration	changes, extensions	The changes and extensions listed for sub-clause 6.4 apply, too.
6.8.2 Codelist	changes, extensions	The changes and extensions listed for sub-clause 6.4 apply, too. Extension: If the conversion rule “rule-owl-cls-codelist-external” is active, code lists are not converted. This should be the normal case as usually code lists are managed outside of the application schemas. If no tagged value “codelist” or “vocabulary” is present, rdfs:Resource is used as the range, otherwise the resource identified by the URI.
6.9 Union	limitation	Limitation: Unions are represented by stub classes as the schema conversion rule for union data types in ISO/DIS 19150-2 is insufficient. It does not handle common cases where values are a mix of object or data types or the same value type is used by more than one option.
6.10 Multiplicity	extensions	Extension: If the conversion rule “rule-owl-prop-suppress-cardinality-restrictions” is active, cardinality restrictions are not included. Extension: If the conversion rule “rule-owl-prop-suppress-allValuesFrom-restrictions” is active, range restrictions are not included in all cases when the value would be identical with the range information of the property. Extension: If the conversion rule “rule-owl-prop-voidable-as-minCardinality0” is active and a property is voidable, there will be no minimum cardinality restriction.
6.11.1 Generalization7.9 GF_InheritanceRelation	–
6.11.2 Association7.7 GF_AssociationType	changes, extensions and a limitations	The changes and extensions listed for sub-clause 6.7 apply, too. Extension: If conversion rule “rule-owl-prop-suppress-asociation-names” is active, iso19150-2:associationName is not included. Limitation: ISO/DIS 19150-2 does not provide rules for association classes.
6.11.3 Aggregation7.8 GF_AggregationType	–
6.12 Constraint7.10 GF_Constraint	extension	Extension: Constraints are only added, if conversion rule “rule-owl-all-constraints” is active. Including OCL in an ontology is questionable. Probably the most reasonable way would be to include only the documentation of a constraint.
6.13 Tagged value	change	The change listed for sub-clause 6.6 applies, too.
7.2 Rules for identification	–
7.3 Rules for documentation	changes, extensions	The changes and extensions listed for sub-clause 6.11.2 apply, too.
7.4 Rules for integration	–
7.5 GF_FeatureType	changes, extensions	The changes and extensions listed for sub-clause 6.4 apply, too. Extension: A sub-class predicate to gfm:AnyFeature is only added, if conversion rule “rule-owl-cls-19150-2-features” is active. Extension: If conversion rule “rule-owl-cls-geosparql-features” is active, a sub-class predicate to geo:Feature from GeoSPARQL is added.

Configuration

Class

The class for the Target implementation is de.interactive_instruments.ShapeChange.Target.Ontology.OWLISO19150.

Parameters

The <targetParameters> recognized for this target include the following:

*Parameter Name*	*Required / Optional*	*Type*	*Default Value*	*Explanation*
outputDirectory	Optional	String	<the current run directory>	The path to which the ontology file(s) will be written.
defaultEncodingRule	Optional	String	iso19150_2014	The identifier of the default encoding rule governing the conversion into the ontology representation. This default value may be overridden by tagged values set on individual modeling elements.
globalProperties	Optional	Comma separated list of strings	–	List of property names. If the name of a model property equals one of the names in this list, the according property is represented in the ontology as a global one. No domain information is declared for a global property. If the list contains the value ‘*’, then all properties will be represented as global properties.
language	Optional	String	en	The language code to be used for generating the ontology representation.
ontologyName_TaggedValue_Name	Optional	String	– (see explanation)	Name of the tagged value which, if present on a package, defines the ontologyName (see 19150-2owl:ontologyName) of the package.The ontologyName is defined via the following rules, in descending priority: If this target parameter (ontologyName_TaggedValue_Name) is set and an according tagged value is set for the package its value is used. If the target parameter URIbase is set its value is used for constructing the ontologyName as per 19150-2owl:ontologyName. Otherwise the targetNamespace of the package is used as URIbase.
source	Optional	String	FIXME	Parameter relevant to identify the value for the dc:source that qualifies an ontology element. That value is computed according to the following instructions, in descending order: if this target parameter sourceTaggedValueName is set and the model element has the according tagged value, its value is used if this target parameter (source) is set then its value is used otherwise “FIXME” is used
sourceTaggedValueName	Optional	String	–	Name of the tagged value relevant to identify the value for the dc:source that qualifies an ontology element. That value is computed according to the following instructions, in descending order: if this target parameter (sourceTaggedValueName) is set and the model element has the according tagged value, its value is used if the target parameter source is set then its value is used otherwise “FIXME” is used
URIbase	Optional	URI	–	Defines the global URIbase for construction of the ontologyName (see 19150-2owl:ontologyName).The ontologyName is defined via the following rules, in descending priority: If the target parameter ontologyName_TaggedValue_Name is set and an according tagged value is set for the package its value is used. If this target parameter (URIbase) is set its value is used for constructing the ontologyName as per 19150-2owl:ontologyName. Otherwise the targetNamespace of the package is used as URIbase.

Encoding Rules

An <EncodingRule> element defines an encoding rule.

Example:

<EncodingRule extends="iso19150_2014" name="myencodingrule">
  <rule name="rule-owl-all-constraints"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-cls-geosparql-features"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-cls-19150-2-features"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-prop-voidable-as-minCardinality0"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-prop-suppress-cardinality-restrictions"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-prop-suppress-allValuesFrom-restrictions"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-all-suppress-dc-source"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-pkg-singleOntologyPerSchema"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-cls-codelist-external"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-pkg-app-schema-code"/>
  <rule name="rule-owl-prop-suppress-asociation-names"/>
</EncodingRule>

The name attribute of the <EncodingRule> element defines the identifier of the encoding rule to be used in the defaultEncodingRule parameter or owlEncodingRule tagged values on specific model elements.

The optional extends attribute of the <EncodingRule> element includes all rules from the referenced encoding rule in this encoding rule, too.

Each <rule> references either a conversion rule or – possibly in the future – a requirement or recommendation to be tested during the validation before the conversion process. The following rules are supported by this target:

*Rule Name*	*Required /Optional*	*Explanation*
rule-owl-pkg-singleOntologyPerSchema	Optional	If this rule is enabled, ontologies will be created for selected schema, but not for all of their child packages.
rule-owl-pkg-pathInOntologyName	Optional	If this rule is enabled, ontology names will be constructed using the path of packages (usually from a leaf package to its main schema package). This rule changes ontology names only if the rule “rule-owl-pkg-singleOntologyPerSchema” is not in effect (because otherwise child packages will not be considered).
rule-owl-all-constraints	Optional	If this rule is included, the target will create constraint definitions. Constraints on properties (not for union properties) and classes are supported.
rule-owl-cls-geosparql-features	Optional	If this rule is included, each feature type definition gets a subClassOf declaration to the GeoSPARQL defined FeatureType class.
rule-owl-cls-19150-2-features	Optional	If this rule is included, each feature type definition gets a subClassOf declaration to the ISO 19150-2 defined FeatureType class (which defines the according stereotype) as well as AnyFeature.
rule-owl-cls-codelist-external	Optional	If this rule is included, code lists are not represented as part of the RDF vocabulary and where available the vocabulary or codelist tagged value is used for the rdfs:range. If not set, owl:Class is used.
rule-owl-prop-suppress-cardinality-restrictions	Optional	If this rule is included, cardinality restrictions are not included in the ontology.
rule-owl-prop-suppress-allValuesFrom-restrictions	Optional	If this rule is included, allValuesFrom restrictions are not included in the ontology.
rule-owl-prop-voidable-as-minCardinality0	Optional	If this rule is included, minCardinality is set to 0 for voidable properties
rule-owl-all-suppress-dc-source	Optional	If this rule is included, dc:source in not included except on the ontology subject.
rule-owl-prop-suppress-asociation-names	Optional	If this rule is included, association names are not included in the ontology.
rule-owl-pkg-app-schema-code	Optional	Note: this rule only applies if rule-owl-pkg-singleOntologyPerSchema is in effect.If this rule is included, the namespace abbreviation defined for an application schema package is used for constructing the ontology name of this package as well as the filename for that ontology – instead of the package name (normalized according to 19150-2owl:ontologyName).

Map Entries

<mapEntries> contain individual <MapEntry> elements, which represent mappings from UML types (classes) to corresponding ontology resources.

Examples:

<mapEntries>
  <MapEntry type="CharacterString" rule="myencodingrule" targetType="xsd:string" param="datatype"/>
  <MapEntry type="GeographicalName" rule="myencodingrule" targetType="rdfs:label" param="propertyByValueType"/> 
  <MapEntry type="geometry" rule="myencodingrule" targetType="geo:hasGeometry" param="property"/>
  <MapEntry type="Any" rule="iso19150_2014" targetType="owl:Class" param="class"/>
</mapEntries>

A <MapEntry> element contains the following attributes:

*Attribute Name*	*Required / Optional*	*Explanation*
type	Required	In general, the UML type/class name to be mapped. For map entries with param=”property”, however, the value is an attribute name or a role name.
rule	Required	The encoding rule to which this mapping applies. May be “*” to indicate that the mapping applies to all encoding rules.
targetType	Optional	The identifier of an RDF class or property to which the type will be mapped.Note: the value is expected to be given as a QName, with the namespace prefix matching the namespace abbreviation of a namespace declared in the configuration (see next section).
param	Optional	A parameter for the mapping. Allowed values and their interpretation are as follows: class – the target type represents an OWL class datatype – the target type represents an RDFS data type property – the target type represents an OWL property; it may be left empty to indicate that the property should be suppressed in the ontology propertyByValueType – the target type represents an OWL property (all properties of a certain value type are mapped to a fixed RDF property)

The file StandardMapEntries-owl.xml defines mappings for a number of types and properties of the ISO Harmonized Model and OGC standards. It can be included in ShapeChange configuration files (via XInclude). Additional XInclude files, or individual <MapEntry> elements added to the <mapEntries> section of the configuration file, may be used to customize the map entries to support additional pre-defined conceptual UML classes, encoding rules, and existing ontologies.

Namespaces

A <Namespace> element defines a namespace and its properties.

Example:

<namespaces>
 <Namespace nsabr="geo" ns="http://www.opengis.net/ont/geosparql#" location="http://www.opengis.net/ont/geosparql"/>
</namespaces>

The attributes for <Namespace> are as follows:

*Attribute Name*	*Required / Optional*	*Default Value*	*Explanation*
ns	Required	–	The full namespace of an ontology.
nsabr	Required	–	The namespace abbreviation.
location	Optional	–	The location of the ontology document.

The file StandardNamespaces-owl.xml contains a series of standard namespace definitions for the derivation of an ontology representation. This file can be included (via XInclude) in configuration files.

Stereotype Mappings

According to ISO 19150-2, the ontology representation of a class (from the application schema) with a specific stereotype shall include an rdfs:subClassOf declaration, referencing the identifier of the ontological definition of that stereotype. Therefore, the mapping between a stereotype used in the model and this identifier must be declared in the configuration.

Example:

<stereotypeMappings>
 <StereotypeMapping wellknown="FeatureType" mapsTo="http://def.isotc211.org/iso19150-2/2012/base#FeatureType"/>
</stereotypeMappings>

The attributes for <StereotypeMapping> are as follows:

*Attribute Name*	*Required / Optional*	*Default Value*	*Explanation*
wellknown	Required	–	Well-known stereotype (see here for further information).
mapsTo	Required	–	Identifier of the ontological defintion of the stereotype.

The file StandardStereotypeMappings-owl.xml contains a series of standard stereotype mappings. This file can be included (via XInclude) in configuration files.

Sample Configuration

<TargetOwl class="de.interactive_instruments.ShapeChange.Target.Ontology.OWLISO19150" mode="enabled">
  <targetParameter name="outputDirectory" value="examples/rdf/inspire"/>
  <targetParameter name="defaultEncodingRule" value="owltest"/>
  <targetParameter name="URIbase" value="http://example.com/ont/inspire"/>
  <targetParameter name="source"
    value="INSPIRE application schemas, Revision 4618, derived according to ISO/DIS 19150-2 with several modification using ShapeChange."/>
  <targetParameter name="globalProperties" value="*"/>
  <rules>
    <EncodingRule extends="iso19150_2014" name="owltest">
      <rule name="rule-owl-all-constraints"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-cls-geosparql-features"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-cls-19150-2-features"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-prop-voidable-as-minCardinality0"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-prop-suppress-cardinality-restrictions"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-prop-suppress-allValuesFrom-restrictions"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-all-suppress-dc-source"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-pkg-singleOntologyPerSchema"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-cls-codelist-external"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-pkg-app-schema-code"/>
      <rule name="rule-owl-prop-suppress-asociation-names"/>
    </EncodingRule>
  </rules>
  <xi:include href="https://shapechange.net/resources/config/StandardStereotypeMappings-owl.xml"/>
  <xi:include href="https://shapechange.net/resources/config/StandardNamespaces-owl.xml"/>
  <xi:include href="https://shapechange.net/resources/config/StandardMapEntries-owl.xml"/>
  <namespaces>
    <Namespace location="http://example.com/ont/inspire/common"
      ns="http://example.com/ont/inspire/common#" nsabr="common"/>
  </namespaces>
  <mapEntries>
    <MapEntry param="datatype" rule="owltest" targetType="xsd:string"
      type="LocalisedCharacterString"/>
    <MapEntry param="datatype" rule="owltest" targetType="xsd:string" type="PT_FreeText"/>
    <MapEntry param="datatype" rule="owltest" targetType="xsd:anyURI" type="URL"/>
  </mapEntries>
  <mapEntries>
    <MapEntry param="propertyByValueType" rule="owltest" targetType="rdfs:label"
      type="GeographicalName"/>
  </mapEntries>
  <mapEntries>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="" type="inspireId"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="prov:generatedAtTime"
      type="beginLifespanVersion"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="prov:invalidatedAtTime"
      type="endLifespanVersion"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="common:validFrom" type="validFrom"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="common:validTo" type="validTo"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="geo:hasGeometry" type="geometry"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="rdfs:label" type="label"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="rdfs:label" type="name"/>
    <MapEntry param="property" rule="owltest" targetType="rdf:value" type="value"/>
  </mapEntries>
</TargetOwl>