Renato Iannella
2020-11-29 12:52:41
Semantically, you are defining the class as Primitive (subClassOf) versus Defined (equivalentClass). The main difference is in inferencing in one or both directions.
The Primitive class is single direction:
- any Thing with ShipsTo with values from Italy can be inferred to be a deliversToItaly The Defined class is both directions:
- as above, and
- any Thing that is a deliversToItay can be inferred to have shipTo with values from Italy
A Defined class is used when you are confident that you have necessary and sufficient rules for class membership - otherwise Primitive is used for necessary rules only.
To add to that: in the example given, if
owl:equivalentClassis used, finding:individual a [a owl:restriction; owl:ownProperty ebay:shipsTo; owl:allValuesFrom geo:Italy].in the ontology enables:individual a :deliversToItalyto be inferred. ifrdfs:subClassOfis used, the inference is not possible.Thanks, Renato, that has helped me :)