OWL Protegé: Using the same Object property for different Domains/Ranges

Question

I'm using Protegé to create an OWL ontology and I have Question.

I have the following set up:

        (relation1)
ClassA isTriggeredBy ClassB

        (relation1)
ClassC isTriggeredBy ClassD

Nevertheless the relation should be either (ClassA, ClassB) or (ClassC,ClassD). I don't want combinations like (ClassA, ClassD) to be possible since it makes no sense from the ontology semantic perspective. I tried to avoid that by specifying the following in the Object Property Description of relation1 isTriggeredBy:

Domain (intersection)
ClassA or ClassC

Ranges (intersection)
ClassB or ClassD

and I added local constraints in both Class Description of ClassA and ClassC:

Description:ClassA
SubClass Of
isTriggeredBy some ClassB

Description:ClassC
SubClass of
isTriggeredBy some ClassD

But I don't know if this is correct. Moreover I don't know if this the more appropriate way to do this or if it necessary to create different object properties.

Thanks for the attention and support,

pLs

You may also want to look at [this related SO question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49961407/type-inference-using-class-expresions-on-protege/49963090#49963090) that I answered. — Henriette Harmse, Jul 31 '18 at 15:19

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 31 '18 at 15:15

3

To answer your question, it is important to understand the reason for using domain and range restrictions. If have

ObjectProperty: isTriggeredBy
  Domain: A
  Range: B

what you want to achieve is that whenever you know that an individual a is related via isTriggeredBy to individual b, the reasoner can infer that a is of type A and b is of type B.

If you have

ObjectProperty: isTriggeredBy
  Domain: ClassA or ClassC
  Range: ClassB or ClassD

it can at most infer that individual a is of type ClassA or ClassC and individual b is of type ClassB or ClassD. That is even with the added axioms

Class:ClassA
  SubClassOf: isTriggeredBy some ClassB

Class:ClassC
  SubClassOf:isTriggeredBy some ClassD

you will not get to differentiate between the relations (ClassA, ClassB) and (ClassC,ClassD).

A way to achieve this differentiation is to use subproperties:

ObjectProperty: isTriggeredBy
  Domain: ClassA or ClassC
  Range: ClassB or ClassD

ObjectProperty: isTriggeredByB
  SubPropertyOf: isTriggeredBy
  Domain: ClassA
  Range:ClassB

ObjectProperty: isTriggeredByD
  SubPropertyOf: isTriggeredBy
  Domain: ClassC
  Range:ClassD

Then when you have an individual a that is associated via isTriggeredByB to individual b, it will infer that a is of type ClassA and b is of type ClassB.

answered Jul 31 '18 at 15:15

Henriette Harmse

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Thanks for the detailed explanation. I really appreciate that. Do you think this is the best alternative or it is better to create 2 diferentes object properties with no sub-properties? – PLS Aug 01 '18 at 12:19
It depends on the needs of your application domain. If you need to know that `isTriggeredByB` and `isTriggeredByD` are `isTriggeredBy` relations, then you need to define them as subproperties. If you don't need to know that, you can just have the 2 properties without being subproperties of `isTriggeredBy`. – Henriette Harmse Aug 01 '18 at 13:04
Are you trying to translate UML class diagrams to OWL by any chance? – Henriette Harmse Aug 01 '18 at 13:07
I'm not. But I'm trying to define a ubiquitous language terminology related to my application domain using ontology. So I'm trying to keep the ontology terminology as close to the domain terminology as possible. – PLS Aug 01 '18 at 13:15
Ok, well in that case you probably need to know that `isTriggeredByB` and `isTriggeredByD` are `isTriggeredBy` relations. – Henriette Harmse Aug 01 '18 at 13:20
Would you mind accepting my answer as correct? Thanks! – Henriette Harmse Aug 01 '18 at 13:20
On my blog I write about modelling issues in OWL, which might be of interest to you. You can also ask questions there if you like. See https://henrietteharmse.com. – Henriette Harmse Aug 01 '18 at 13:28
I will check now. Again, thanks for collaboration and detailed explanation. Any doubts I will post here =] – PLS Aug 01 '18 at 13:29

OWL Protegé: Using the same Object property for different Domains/Ranges

1 Answers1