Dear Rich,
ISO 15926 is a large lightweight ontology, some tens of thousands of terms, used in at least parts of the oil industry. The problem it solves is the movement of engineering data between different systems in the design and operations processes, typically for projects with $billion price tags.
The problem is that the different computer systems have different view points with different data structures for the same data, not to mention the use of different names for the same things, and the requirement to support different languages – it’s a global business. Without an ontological approach, the costs of translating the data between systems can be large, both in the cost of the resource needed, and the opportunity cost of the time taken. If it delays you starting to use your offshore oil rig, the cost of delays are in the $millions per day.
The way it works is that you either use the ontology within your source systems – at least at the class level, or translate into it when you move data between systems, so that all the systems essentially communicate using a common language. The challenge is creating an underlying view that can support all the different views of the underlying system. For this you really need an approach that has an upper ontology at its heart to provide the framework that provides consistency.
You will not find too many papers on this, though there are presentations presented at conferences in the oil industry, so you should be able to find something if you look. I suggest the FIATECH and POSC Caesar Association websites as a place to start. There is one paper on my website about a project I was involved in that was one of the first to deliver benefits from the approach.
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/documents/STEPintoTheRealWorld.PDF
There is more money to be made by those with ontological skills in data integration than in all the other possible applications put together, multiplied by a large number.
Regards
Matthew West
Information Junction
Tel: +44 1489 880185
Mobile: +44 750 3385279
Skype: dr.matthew.west
matthew.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.informationjunction.co.uk/
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From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rich Cooper
Sent: 29 February 2012 18:17
To: '[ontolog-forum] '
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] What goes into a Lexicon?
Dear Matthew,
Could you expand on that example please? It would be nice to know much more detail about how the ontology helped the project in specific and startling detail. I haven’t heard of an ontology project of large size (i.e., far bigger than Dublin Core), so if you could expound on how big the ontology is, on what effort was required to develop, test, evaluate, and validate the ontology against the oil industry problems that were solved by it, that could be a very useful way to bring our discussion on this board into greater focus.
Also, what would have happened in the event that project had been performed another way, i.e., without ontology as the focus, but instead on the problems being solved as the focus. Then on what the economic consequences might have been without using the ontology in the project, but doing it in the usual way. Even one successful case could get us all better appraised of the value of ontologies, at least in their potential.
Thanks,
-Rich
Sincerely,
Rich Cooper
EnglishLogicKernel.com
Rich AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
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From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Matthew West
Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 10:07 AM
To: '[ontolog-forum] '
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] What goes into a Lexicon?
Dear Rich,
That’s not true.
We have long discussed how ontologies make “interoperability” easier, but so far there is not one example of it.
In the oil industry at least EPISTLE and ISO 15926 have been used successfully to support interoperability between engineering systems in particular, but also other sorts of systems delivering $millions in benefits. There have been tens of such projects, not just the odd one or two.
Regards
Matthew West
Information Junction
Tel: +44 1489 880185
Mobile: +44 750 3385279
Skype: dr.matthew.west
matthew.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.informationjunction.co.uk/
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/
This email originates from Information Junction Ltd. Registered in England and Wales No. 6632177.
Registered office: 2 Brookside, Meadow Way, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, SG6 3JE.