allow object property exclusion list when merging ontologies

From cmung...@gmail.com on December 05, 2011 17:32:09

Add an option for loading an exclusion list of properties. This would be a newline-separate list of IRIs.

Oort/Mooncat would then remove these from external ontologies prior to merging. Then axioms that reference these would be removed. This would mean that these relations would not be followed in graph walking and finding the reference closure.

The primary use for this is to provide additional control over merging of relations in different ontologies, especially where those relations do not have a canonical IRI. For example, CL would choose to exclude most of the relations in PATO.

Alternatively also allow this to be whitelist-based. I.e. only include properties in the list. However, this is best done on a per-ontology basis.

Original issue: http://code.google.com/p/owltools/issues/detail?id=26

Start by locating the Oort and Mooncat ontology-loading and merging entry points, then inspect how external ontologies and relation closures are handled. Clarify the exclusion-list format, whether filtering is global or per ontology, and whether whitelist behavior is required. Done should mean excluded properties and axioms referencing them are absent before merging and graph walking.