The UMBEL Vocabulary defines three classes:
and 38 properties (in addition to recommended use of external vocabularies, especially SKOS):
correspondsToisAboutisRelatedTorelatesToXXX(31 variants; see below)isLikehasMappinghasCharacteristicisCharacteristicOf.
In addition, UMBEL re-uses certain properties from external vocabularies. These classes and properties are used to instantiate the UMBEL Reference Concept ontology and are a Vocabulary in their own right for aiding the definition of other domain ontologies.
Classes
Here are the specifications for the three UMBEL classes in the vocabulary.
| Class name | umbel:RefConcept |
| Description | Reference Concepts are a distinct subset of the more broadly understood concept such as used in the SKOS RDFS controlled vocabulary or formal concept analysis or the very general or abstract concepts common to some upper ontologies.
Reference Concepts are selected for their use as concrete, subject-related or commonly used notions for describing tangible ideas and referents in human experience and language. Reference Concepts are classes, the members of which are nameable instances or named entities, which by definition are held as distinct from these concepts. The UMBEL ontology is a coherently organized structure (or reference "backbone") of these Reference Concepts. |
| In-domain-of | umbel:isRelatedTo, skos:prefLabel, skos:altLabel, skos:hiddenLabel, skos:definition |
| In-range-of | umbel:isAbout, umbel:correspondsTo |
| Sub-class-of | skos:Concept |
| Status | Stable |
| Class name | umbel:SuperType |
| Description | SuperTypes are a collection of (mostly) similar Reference Concepts. Most of the SuperType classes have been designed to be (mostly) disjoint from the other SuperType classes. SuperTypes thus provide a higher-level of clustering and organization of Reference Concepts for use in user interfaces and for reasoning purposes. |
| In-domain-of | skos:prefLabel, skos:altLabel, skos:hiddenLabel, skos:definition |
| Status | Stable |
| Class name | umbel:Qualifier |
| Description | The Qualifier class is a set of descriptions that indicate the method used in order to establish an isAbout or correspondsTo relationship between an UMBEL reference concept (RC) and an external entity. This description should be complete enough to aid understanding of the nature and reliability of the "aboutness" assertion and to be usable for filtering or user interface information. The descriptions may be literal strings or may refer to literal numeric values resulting from an automated alignment technique. |
| In-range-of | umbel:hasMapping |
| Status | Stable |
Properties
The UMBEL predicates, and those used from external vocabularies, provide the mapping basis for the vocabulary. Predicates (properties) are provided for all structural combinations of classes, individuals and properties.
Here are the specifications for the UMBEL properties in the vocabulary.
| Property name | umbel:correspondsTo |
| Description | The property umbel:correspondsTo is used to assert a close correspondence between an external class, named entity, individual or instance with a Reference Concept class. umbel:correspondsTo relates the external class, named entity, individual or instance to the class through the basis of both its subject matter and intended scope. This predicate should be used where the correspondence between the two entities is felt to be nearly equivalent to a sameAs assertion, and is reflexive, but without the full entailments of intensional class memberships. In these cases, both entities are understood to have the same type and intended scope, but without asserting a full class-level or sameAs individual relationship.
This predicate is designed for the circumstance of aligning two different ontologies or knowledge bases based on node-level correspondences, but without entailing the actual ontological relationships and structure of the object source. For example, the umbel:correspondsTo predicate is used to assert close correspondence between UMBEL Reference Concepts and Wikipedia categories or pages, yet without entailing the actual Wikipedia category structure. This property asserts a different and stronger relationship than umbel:isAbout. One practical use is to guide specific instance member determinations when, say, the native structure of the external ontology or knowledge base is to be analyzed and replaced with an UMBEL-based structure. This property is therefore used to create a nearly equivalent assertion (however, with the degree of that equivalence being unknown or unknowable) between an external instance or class and a Reference Concept class. |
| Domain | owl:Thing |
| Range | umbel:RefConcept |
| Reflexive | True |
| Status | Testing |
| Property name | umbel:isAbout |
| Description | The property umbel:isAbout is used to assert the relation between an external named entity, individual or instance with a Reference Concept class. umbel:isAbout relates the external named entity, individual or instance to the class through the basis of its subject matter. The relation acknowledges that the scope of the class can not be determined solely by the aggregation or extent of its associated individual entity members, and that the nature of the Reference Concept class may not alone bound or define the individual entity.
This property is therefore used to create a topical assertion between an individual and a Reference Concept. |
| Domain | owl:Thing |
| Range | umbel:RefConcept |
| Inverse-of | umbel:isRelatedTo |
| Status | Testing |
| Property name | umbel:isRelatedTo |
| Description | Check the definition of umbel:isAbout for the definition of this property; isRelatedTo is the inverse property of isAbout. |
| Domain | umbel:RefConcept |
| Range | owl:Thing |
| Inverse-of | umbel:isAbout |
| Status | Testing |
| Property name | umbel:relatesToXXX |
| Description | The various properties designated by umbel:relatesToXXX are used to assert a relationship between an external instance (object) and a particular (XXX) umbel:SuperType. There may be as many umbel:relatesToXXX properties as there are numbers of SuperTypes (see next table for the listing of all specific umbel:relatesToXXX predicates).
The assertion of this property does not entail class membership with the asserted SuperType. Rather, the assertion may be based on particular attributes or characteristics of the object at hand. For example, a British person might have an umbel:relatesToXXX asserted relation to the SuperType of the geopolitical entity of Britain, though the actual thing at hand (person) is a member of the Person class SuperType. This predicate is used for filtering or clustering, often within user interfaces. Multiple umbel:relatesToXXX assertions may be made for the same instance. |
| Domain | owl:Thing |
| Range | umbel:SuperType |
| Status | Testing |
Each of the 32 UMBEL SuperTypes has a matching predicate for external topic assignments (umbel:relatesToOtherOrganism shares two SuperTypes, leading to 31 different predicates):
| SuperType | Mapping Predicate | Comments |
| NaturalPhenomena | relatesToPhenomenon | This predicate relates an external entity to the SuperType (ST) shown. It indicates there is a relationship to the ST of a verifiable nature, but which is undetermined as to strength or a full rdf:type relationship |
| NaturalSubstances | relatesToSubstance | same as above |
| Earthscape | relatesToEarth | same as above |
| Extraterrestrial | relatesToHeavens | same as above |
| Prokaryotes | relatesToOtherOrganism | same as above |
| ProtistsFungus | ||
| Plants | relatesToPlant | same as above |
| Animals | relatesToAnimal | same as above |
| Diseases | relatesToDisease | same as above |
| PersonTypes | relatesToPersonType | same as above |
| Organizations | relatesToOrganizationType | same as above |
| FinanceEconomy | relatesToFinanceEconomy | same as above |
| Society | relatesToSociety | same as above |
| Activities | relatesToActivity | same as above |
| Events | relatesToEvent | same as above |
| Time | relatesToTime | same as above |
| Products | relatesToProductType | same as above |
| FoodorDrink | relatesToFoodDrink | same as above |
| Drugs | relatesToDrug | same as above |
| Facilities | relatesToFacility | same as above |
| Geopolitical | relatesToGeoEntity | same as above |
| Chemistry | relatesToChemistry | same as above |
| AudioInfo | relatesToAudioMusic | same as above |
| VisualInfo | relatesToVisualInfo | same as above |
| WrittenInfo | relatesToWrittenInfo | same as above |
| StructuredInfo | relatesToStructuredInfo | same as above |
| NotationsReferences | relatesToNotation | same as above |
| Numbers | relatesToNumbers | same as above |
| Attributes | relatesToAttribute | same as above |
| Abstract | relatesToAbstraction | same as above |
| TopicsCategories | relatesToTopic | same as above |
| MarketsIndustries | relatesToMarketIndustry | same as above |
| Workplaces | relatesToWorkplaces | same as above |
| Property name | umbel:isLike |
| Description | The property umbel:isLike is used to assert an associative link between similar individuals who may or may not be identical, but are believed to be so. This property is not intended as a general expression of similarity, but rather the likely but uncertain same identity of the two resources being related.
This property may be considered as an alternative to sameAs where there is not a certainty of sameness, and/or when it is desirable to assert a degree of overlap of sameness via the umbel:hasMapping reification predicate. This property can and should be changed if the certainty of the sameness of identity is subsequently determined. umbel:isLike has the semantics of likely identity, but where there is some uncertainty that the two resources indeed refer to the exact same individual with the same identity. Such uncertainty can arise when, for example, common names may be used for different individuals (e.g., John Smith). It is appropriate to use this property when there is strong belief the two resources refer to the same individual with the same identity, but that association can not be asserted at the present time with full certitude. |
| Domain | owl:Thing |
| Range | owl:Thing |
| Symmetric | True |
| Status | Testing |
| Property name | umbel:hasMapping |
| Description | This property is used to reify a umbel:isAbout, umbel:isRelatedTo or an umbel:isLike property assertion with a statement as to its degree of mapping or relationship between subject and object.
The hasMapping property may be expressed as a mapping percentage value, some quantitative metric value, or a qualitative descriptor characterizing the linkage degree or overlap between the two classes, predicates, individuals or datatypes. This value might be calculated from some external utility, may be free form, or may be based on some defined listing of mapping values expressed as literals. |
| Domain | rdf:Statement |
| Range | owl:Thing |
| Status | Testing |
| Property name | umbel:hasCharacteristic |
| Type | owl:AnnotationProperty |
| Description | The property umbel:hasCharacteristic is used to assert the relation between a Reference Concept and external properties that may be used in external ontologies to characterize, describe, or provide attributes for data records associated with that concept. It is via this property or its inverse, umbel:isCharacteristicOf, that external data characterizations may be incorporated and modeled within a domain ontology based on the UMBEL vocabulary. |
| Inverse-of | umbel:isCharacteristicOf |
| Status | Testing |
| Property name | umbel:isCharacteristicOf |
| Type | owl:AnnotationProperty |
| Description | The property umbel:isCharacteristicOf is used to assert the relation between a property and a Reference Concept (or its punned individual) to which it applies. Such properties may be used in external ontologies to characterize, describe, or provide attributes for data records associated with that concept. It is via this property or its inverse, umbel:hasCharacteristic, that external data characterizations may be incorporated and modeled within a domain ontology based on the UMBEL vocabulary. |
| Inverse-of | umbel:hasCharacteristic |
| Status | Testing |
External Properties
The UMBEL vocabulary re-uses several properties from external vocabularies. Here is the list of such properties that are recommended for or used by the UMBEL Reference Concept ontology.
| RDFS |
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| OWL |
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| SKOS-Preferred |
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| SKOS-Optional |
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