OptiqueVQS: A visual query system over ontologies for industry

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.

Semantic access to streaming and static data at Siemens

“…The Optique platform allows domain experts to formulate and pose queries via a visual query formulation system, called OptiqueVQS [62][63][64][65][66][67]. Queries, formulated 9 KNIME, the Konstanz Information Miner, is an open source data analytics, reporting and integration platform.…”

“…The main component of OptiqueVQS's backend is a graph projector [65,66], which feeds OptiqueVQS's widgets in order to enable a graph-based navigation over an ontology during query formulation. Graphs are effective mechanisms to navigate, construct, and communicate complex topological structures for end users.…”

Querying industrial stream-temporal data: An ontology-based visual approach1

“…Full expressivity is also not a goal, as simpler interfaces covering the majority or the essential fragments of end-user information needs are more likely to succeed [11]. Expressivity is intentionally compromised for the sake of usability by targeting frequently needed query fragments with less perceived complexity for the user [48]. Therefore, OptiqueVQS primarily targets tree-shaped conjunctive queries and the essential fragments of STARQL.…”

“…The core component is graph projector [48] enabling a graph-based navigation over an ontology during the query formulation process. It adapts a technique called navigation graph to extract a suitable graph-like structure from a set of OWL 2 axioms [4].…”

“…A user experiment has been conducted at Siemens for OptiqueVQS with stream-temporal support [55,48]. The experiment was designed as a think-aloud study, since the goal of the experiment was not purely summative, but to a large extent formative.…”