Ontology as Structure, Domain and Definition

The paper presents a spatio-temporal ontology guided by a particular methodology, in which the semantics is constructed within a spatio-temporal interpretation structure that is built up in three stages. The first, stage stipulates a standard classical model of time and space. This structure forms the grounding for the interpretation. The next stage is the specification of domains of entities, which are either elements of the grounding structure (time points and regions) or constructions from these elements (mappings from time to space associated with individuals existing within the spatio-temporal structure). The final stage is the definition of conceptual vocabulary in terms of the grounding structure and the specified domains. This definitional stage can be further subdivided into three types of specification: direct grounding of primitives onto the underlying structure, indirect grounding by defining additional vocabulary in terms of grounded primitives, partial grounding by specifying semantics types and axioms to constrain the meaning of vocabulary that is not explicitly defined.

The main goal of the paper is to advocate a methodology rather than a specific ontology. We suggest that building up in this way, results in robust ontologies, whose assumptions can be clearly seen, since they are encapsulated within the grounding stage and domain specifications. Although the definitional stage may incorporate a diverse and expressive vocabulary, its terms are essentially just labels for properties and relations that were already implicit within the grounding structure.