Converting UML to OWL ontologies

Abstract

This paper presents automatic generation of the Web Ontology Language (OWL) from an UML model. The solution is based on an MDA-defined architecture for ontology development and the Ontology UML Profile (OUP). A conversion, that we present here, transforms an ontology from its OUP definition (i.e. XML Metadata Interchange -- XMI) into OWL description. Accordingly, we illustrate how an OUP-developed ontology can be shared with ontological engineering tools (i.e. Protégé).