Ontology-Based Evaluation and Design of Visual Conceptual Modeling Languages

In this chapter, we present a framework for the evaluation and (re)design of modeling languages. In our approach, this property can be systematically evaluated by comparing a concrete representation of the worldview underlying the language (captured in the language’s meta-model), with an explicit and formal representation of a conceptualization of that domain (a reference ontology). Moreover, we elaborate on formal characterizations for the notions of reference ontology, conceptualization and meta-model, as well as on the relations between them. By doing this, we can also formally define the relation between the state of affairs in reality deemed possible by an ontology and the grammatical models admitted by a modeling language. The precise characterization of this relation allows for a systematic improvement of a modeling language by incorporating ontological axioms as grammatical constraints in the language’s meta-model. Furthermore, we demonstrate how an approach based on visual simulation could be used to assess this relation, i.e., to evaluate the distance between the valid models of a language and the intended models according to the underlying conceptualization. Finally, we demonstrate how the use of a system of formal ontological properties can be systematically exploited in the design of pragmatically efficient domain-specific visual languages.