The OWL Working Group has published twelve Proposed Edited Recommendations

18 October 2012

The OWL 2 Web Ontology Language, informally OWL 2, is an ontology language for the Semantic Web with formally defined meaning. OWL 2 ontologies provide classes, properties, individuals, and data values and are stored as Semantic Web documents. OWL 2 ontologies can be used along with information written in RDF, and OWL 2 ontologies themselves are primarily exchanged as RDF documents. Comments on the Proposed Edited Recommendations are welcome through 15 November.

• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Document Overview. This document serves as an introduction to OWL 2 and the various other OWL 2 documents. It describes the syntaxes for OWL 2, the different kinds of semantics, the available profiles (sub-languages), and the relationship between OWL 1 and OWL 2.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Structural Specification and Functional-Style Syntax. The meaningful constructs provided by OWL 2 are defined in terms of their structure. As well, a functional-style syntax is defined for these constructs, with examples and informal descriptions. One can reason with OWL 2 ontologies under either the RDF-Based Semantics or the Direct Semantics. If certain restrictions on OWL 2 ontologies are satisfied and the ontology is in OWL 2 DL, reasoning under the Direct Semantics can be implemented using techniques well known in the literature.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Mapping to RDF Graphs.This document defines the mapping of OWL 2 ontologies into RDF graphs, and vice versa.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Direct Semantics. This document provides the direct model-theoretic semantics for OWL 2, which is compatible with the description logic SROIQ. Furthermore, this document defines the most common inference problems for OWL 2.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language RDF-Based Semantics. This document defines the RDF-compatible model-theoretic semantics of OWL 2.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Conformance. This document describes the conditions that OWL 2 tools must satisfy in order to be conformant with the language specification. It also presents a common format for OWL 2 test cases that both illustrate the features of the language and can be used for testing conformance.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Profiles. This document provides a specification of several profiles of OWL 2 which can be more simply and/or efficiently implemented. In logic, profiles are often called fragments. Most profiles are defined by placing restrictions on the structure of OWL 2 ontologies. These restrictions have been specified by modifying the productions of the functional-style syntax.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language New Features and Rationale.This document is a simple introduction to the new features of the OWL 2 Web Ontology Language, including an explanation of the differences between the initial version of OWL and OWL 2. The document also presents the requirements that have motivated the design of the main new features, and their rationale from a theoretical and implementation perspective.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Quick Reference Guide. This document provides a non-normative quick reference guide to the OWL 2 language. It also provides links to other documents, including the OWL 2 Primer for language introduction and examples, the OWL 2 Structural Specification and Functional Syntax document for more details of the functional syntax, and the OWL 2 New Features and Rationale document for new feature descriptions.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language XML Serialization. This document specifies an XML serialization for OWL 2 that mirrors its structural specification. An XML schema defines this syntax and is available as a separate document, as well as being included here.
• rdf:PlainLiteral: A Datatype for RDF Plain Literals. This document presents the specification of a primitive datatype for the plain literals of RDF.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Primer. This primer provides an approachable introduction to OWL 2, including orientation for those coming from other disciplines, a running example showing how OWL 2 can be used to represent first simple information and then more complex information, how OWL 2 manages ontologies, and finally the distinctions between the various sublanguages of OWL 2.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Manchester Syntax. This Working Group Note of The Manchester syntax is a user-friendly compact syntax for OWL 2 ontologies; it is frame-based, as opposed to the axiom-based other syntaxes for OWL 2. The Manchester Syntax is used in the OWL 2 Primer, and this document provides the language used there. It is expected that tools will extend the Manchester Syntax for their own purposes, and tool builders may collaboratively extend the common language.
• OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Data Range Extension: Linear Equations. This Working Group Note specifies a syntax and semantics for incorporating linear equations with rational coefficients solved in the reals in OWL 2.

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