Ontology as a Mechanism for Application Integration and Knowledge Sharing in Collaborative Design: A Review

In this paper, we draw attention to ontology as a mechanism for application integration and knowledge sharing in collaborative design. The paper provides a comprehensive literature review on this topic. It starts with its concepts, classification, and difference from other related technologies. Then the usage of ontology is discussed. Following the ontology life cycle, this paper compares several ontology authoring languages, ontology building methodologies and tools. It reviews some recent work on applying ontology to collaborative design. It concludes with a discussion on future R&D directions