OptiqueVQS: a Visual Query System over Ontologies for Industry

Tracking #: 1568-2780

Authors: 
Ahmet Soylu
Evgeny Kharlamov
Dimitry Zheleznyakov
Ernesto Jimenez-Ruiz
Martin Giese
Martin G. Skjaeveland
Dag Hovland
Rudolf Schlatte
Sebastian Brandt
Hallstein Lie
Ian Horrocks

Responsible editor: 
Freddy Lecue

Submission type: 
Full Paper
Abstract: 
An important application of semantic technologies in industry has been the formalisation of information models using OWL~2 ontologies and the use of RDF for storing and exchanging application data. Moreover, legacy data can be virtualised as RDF using ontologies following the ontology-based data access (OBDA) approach. In all these applications, it is important to provide domain experts with query formulation tools for expressing their information needs in terms of queries over ontologies. In this work, we present such a tool, OptiqueVQS, which is designed based on our experience with OBDA applications in Statoil and Siemens and on best HCI practices for interdisciplinary engineering environments. OptiqueVQS implements a number of unique techniques distinguishing it from analogous query formulation systems. In particular, it exploits ontology projection techniques to enable graph-based navigation over an ontology during query construction. Secondly, while OptiqueVQS is primarily ontology driven, it exploits sampled data to enhance selection of data values for some data attributes. Finally, OptiqueVQS is built on well grounded requirements, design rationale, and quality attributes. We evaluated OptiqueVQS with both domain experts and casual users and qualitatively compared our system against prominent visual systems for ontology-driven query formulation and exploration of semantic data. OptiqueVQS is available online and can be downloaded together with an example OBDA scenario.
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Decision/Status: 
Accept

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Review #1
Anonymous submitted on 08/Mar/2017
Suggestion:
Accept
Review Comment:

The content of the manuscript has been improved and the authors have addressed most of my concerns. So, I would accept the manuscript at current form for publication given that other reviewers and editor also happy with it.

Review #2
By Vanessa Lopez submitted on 28/Mar/2017
Suggestion:
Accept
Review Comment:

This manuscript was submitted as 'full paper' and should be reviewed along the usual dimensions for research contributions which include (1) originality, (2) significance of the results, and (3) quality of writing.