Semantic Annotation for Process Models: - Department of Computer ...

74 CHAPTER 4. SEMANTIC ANNOTATION FRAMEWORK
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Once the mapping rules are defined for a certain process modeling language, process
models in that process modeling language can be described by the GPO concepts, i.e.
the GPO concepts are used as metadata to annotate process semantics. We call the
process models described by the GPO metadata as GPO-annotated process models.
A GPO-annotated process model will be formalized in a process semantic annotation
model (PSAM) in section 4.6.
4.5 Model Annotation
The purpose of model annotation is to annotate model (contents) with domain ontologies.
Models (contents) are instances of the meta-model and those instances usually
describe certain domains. The representations of domains are often various due to
diverse uses of terminology and conceptualization, resulting in semantic heterogeneity
of model contents. Domain ontologies are agreed as standard representations and semantic
definitions of domain concepts by annotation users. Semantic heterogeneity of
model (contents) can be reconciled by referencing ontological concepts represented in
domain ontologies. In model annotation, the annotation method is building semantic
mappings or relationships between model contents and domain ontologies.
The mapping method for model annotation
Different mapping strategies can be used between concepts in the model and the domain
specific ontology. They can be simple rules applied in meta-model annotation –
by referring specific model contents in modeling constructs to corresponding domain
concepts. More complicated mappings can be defined through refined semantic relationships
between concepts used in models and concepts defined in a domain ontology.
Simple reference. If a simple mapping by reference is applied, it assumes that
almost all concepts in the model have equal or approximately equal concepts in the