An Ontology Selection and Ranking System Based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Selecting the desired ontology from a collection of available ones is essential for ontology reuse. We address the problem of evaluating, ranking and selecting ontologies according to user preferences. We exploit the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to solve the multiple-criteria decision problem and to model the preferences of the users. We use AHP to analyze the available ontologies from different perspectives and at different abstraction levels. The decision is based on the concrete end-node measurements and their relative importance at higher levels. For supporting the selection decision, we developed an ontology representation, reasoning and management system. The system applies different metrics on ontologies in order to feed the Analytic Hierarchy Process with facts. The running scenario applies our method to the task of reusing ontologies from the tourism domain.