Using Semantic Web Technologies for Integrating Domain Specific Modeling and Analytical Tools

This paper discusses the potential advantages and pitfalls of using semantic web technologies for representing and integrating modeling and analysis tools. Analytical tools are often not designed to be integrated with information sources and general-purpose modeling tools, and often do not support detection of problems across domains. Additionally, these modeling tools may not capture and represent explicitly the information needed to leverage the capabilities of analysis tools. The method described uses semantic web technology as the integrating mechanism between domain specific modeling (DSM) tools and analytical tools. We describe a method and tool set for representing the analytical knowledge through semantic web ontologies that map between the metamodels of both the DSM and analytical tools. We compare an earlier tool-chain prototype with a significantly revised prototype to reflect on the benefits from using semantic web technologies as an integrating mechanism. A potential advantage is the ability to represent the relationships between modeling and analytical tools explicitly and transparently.