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Global Schema Generation Using Formal Ontologies

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Conceptual Modeling — ER 2002 (ER 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2503))

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Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of handling semantic heterogeneity during schema integration. Semantics refer to the meaning of data in contrast to syntax, which solely defines the structure of schema elements. We focus on the part of semantics related to the meanings of terms used to name schema elements. Our approach does not rely on the names of the schema elements or the structure of the schema. Instead, we present an approach based on formal ontologies presented in a logical language for integrating schemas to generate a global schema. Semantic similarity relations between definitions in formal ontologies are defined and used for merging ontologies. We show how similarity relations are discovered by a reasoning system using a higher-level ontology. The result of the merging process is used for schema integration. Schema integration is used to obtain the global schema of a tightly-coupled federated database system. Afterwards, we illustrate how the produced global schema can help for the mapping of data elements.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography University of Zurich, Switzerland

    Farshad Hakimpour

  2. Credit Suisse Financial Services Zurich, Switzerland

    Andreas Geppert

Authors
  1. Farshad Hakimpour
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  2. Andreas Geppert
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Database Laboratory, School of Computer and Communication Sciences, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL), 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Stefano Spaccapietra

  2. Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Salvatore T. March

  3. Graduate School of Informatics, Department of Social Informatics, Kyoto University, Yoshida Sakyo, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Yahiko Kambayashi

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hakimpour, F., Geppert, A. (2002). Global Schema Generation Using Formal Ontologies. In: Spaccapietra, S., March, S.T., Kambayashi, Y. (eds) Conceptual Modeling — ER 2002. ER 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2503. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45816-6_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45816-6_31

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44277-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45816-6

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