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Common Format#

Summary#

The ontology is made available in a common formal language in an accepted concrete syntax.

Purpose#

The purpose of this principle is to allow the maximum number of people to access and reuse an ontology.

Implementation#

  • OEO Foundry ontologies MUST be provided in at least one OWL product
  • Developers are free to use whatever combination of technologies and formats is appropriate for development. However, the official OWL PURL for the ontology MUST resolve to a syntactically valid OWL file using the RDF-XML syntax.
  • Developers MAY produce ontologies in other formats, e.g.:
    • Common Logic
    • OWL or OWL2 concrete syntax
    • OWL2-XML
    • OWL2-Manchester Syntax
    • Turtle
  • The filename for the ontology SHOULD be the ontology prefix.

Examples#

  • The Open Energy Ontology is maintained as omn-Format. It is automatically converted to OWL and is available in both OWL2-Manchester Syntax (oeo.omn) and OWL (oeo-full.owl). The ontology's prefix "oeo" is used in the filenames.
  • The ChEBI ontology is maintained in a relational database using a custom schema, but makes an OBO-Format file available that is automatically converted to OWL. It is available in both OBO and OWL via the OBO Foundry.

Counter-Examples#

An ontology that is ONLY in Frames format, OWL/XML, or OWL Manchester Syntax.