Semantic model integration: an application for OWL

Many agent-based models, especially those embedded in environmental systems are formed of coupled submodels each providing a component of the whole model. Coupled socio-environmental modelling is not trivial, with many authors reporting a need to ensure that the resulting model has a consistent, integrated ontology. The matter can be expected to be no different in the specific case of coupling agent-based and environmental models. We argue that representing the state and structure of the simulation at each time step using OWL ontologies can at least provide some automated consistency checks for a proposed coupling that would not be possible using black-box model coupling frameworks. We further argue that algorithmic conflicts in coupled modelling exercises are an additional problem for semantic integration of models in comparison with semantic integration of data.