Ontology Learning from Thesauri: An Experience in the Urban Domain

Ontology learning is the term used to encompass methods and techniques employed for the (semi-)automatic processing of knowledge resources that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge during ontology construction. This chapter focuses on ontology learning techniques using thesauri as input sources. Thesauri are one of the most promising sources for the creation of domain ontologies thanks to the richness of term definitions, the existence of a priori relationships between terms, and the consensus provided by their extensive use in the library context. Apart from reviewing the state of the art, this chapter shows how ontology learning techniques can be applied in the urban domain for the development of domain ontologies.