Metamodeling-Based Coherence Checking of OWL Vocabulary Background Models

The surface (or, foreground) structure of linked data and their associated OWL vocabularies can be complemented by background models expressing valid ontological distinctions that may have become obscured by the modeling style chosen by the vocabulary designer. Background models can generally serve for debugging, visualization, matching, or even pattern-based design of operational ontologies such as linked data vocabularies. An example of a well-known background model language, primarily suited for taxonomic ontologies, is the system of OntoClean meta-properties. We present an alternative type of background model language, dubbed PURO, which is oriented towards linked data ontologies, and relies on particular–universal and relationship–object dichotomies. Typical ‘foreground’ manifestations of background language terms are then discussed. We demonstrate how a PURO background structure of OWL vocabularies can be itself modeled in OWL using a dedicated PURO ontology, and how reasoning over such a metamodel can verify ontological coherence of the original