Ontologies evaluation for a conceptual retrieval system of metadata schemes: Case study

In this article we perform a qualitative analysis of well-known generic ontologies according to their retrieval potential in order to implement a conceptual retrieval system. This retrieval system aims to search metadata schemes. The main problem in the implementation of retrieval system has been finding a reference ontology covering the domain and matching the system´s requirements. We performed an evaluation of ontologies´ characteristics for their suitability to represent the semantic of specific metadata scheme. Finally, PROTON has been selected as ontology due to its extensibility, adaptability to the domain, adequacy to the retrieval system and its availability. The principal contribution of this study is the provision of guidelines towards the selection of ontologies to be mapped, based on qualitative analysis and experience.