The GeoScience Ontology

Abstract:

Widespread use of knowledge representations in digital geoscience has led to increased interest in a reference ontology for the domain. Recent advances toward such an ontology are promising, but still lack either breadth, depth, or a well-founded superstructure. To overcome these issues, the GeoScience Ontology (GSO) provides a new conceptualization that integrates key available content and lays a foundation for ready extension. GSO consists of three layers: (1) a Common layer for general entities, such as objects and events, adapted from upper ontologies; (2) the Geology Core layer for general geological entities, such as rock bodies and geological structures; and (3) the Module layer for a growing number of core extensions, such as rock types or minerals. GSO has UML and OWL representations, is managed in TopBraid and tested for logical consistency using Protégé components, and resides in a GitHub environment. Early implementation by the LOOP international research consortium is evaluating fitness to key examples, as well as performance in knowledge graph repositories, with an aim to enhance local knowledge management and 3D geo-modelling.