Toward the Use of an Upper
Ontology for U.S. Government and U.S. Military Domains: An Evaluation
September 2004
Salim K. Semy, The MITRE Corporation
Mary K. Pulvermacher, The MITRE Corporation
Leo J. Obrst, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
Momentum is gaining to develop a Semantic Web to allow people and machines
to share the meaning (semantics) of data and ultimately of applications. Key
to the vision of a Semantic Web is the ability to capture data and application semantics
in ontologies and map these ontologies together via related concepts. One approach for mapping
disparate ontologies is to use a standard upper ontology. In determining how Semantic
Web technologies might be applied to United States (U.S.) Government domains,
we consider whether the use of standard upper ontologies makes sense in these environments.
This paper attempts to examine current candidate standard upper ontologies and
assess their applicability for a U.S. Government or U.S. Military domain. We evaluate
the state of the art and applicability of upper ontologies through the lens of potential
application in these domains. The evaluation includes consideration of the ontology purpose,
ontological content decisions, licensing restrictions, structural differences, and maturity.
We conclude with some recommendations and predictions.

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