Developing ontology for Thai Zingiberaceae: From taxonomies to ontologies

Zingiberaceae or the ginger family is one of the largest families of the plant kingdom, are important part of the tropical flora in the tropical forests of Thailand. They are also the most commonly used gingers, of which the genera Alpinia, Amomum, curcuma, and Zingiber. A qualitative research method was applied in organizing of the specification of conceptualizations on Zingiberaceae family using the domain analytic approach in order for ontology development. The results of classification of Thai Zingiberaceae family based on vegetative and floral characteristics can be divided into 7 concepts including Floristic elements, Floristic regions, Tribes, Uses, Part uses, and Status. 62 classes of Thai Zingiberaceae have been defined and classified. The ontology was constructed by using Hozo Ontology Editor. The development ontology will be useful for ontology-based semantic search engine, which will provide extensive capabilities for scientist to investigate Thai Zingiberaceae information.