Ontology-based data access: An application to intermodal logistics

In this paper, we investigate ontology-based data access (OBDA) to build information systems whose purposes are (i) gathering data from a network of intermodal terminals, and (ii) computing performance indicators of the network. This application domain is characterized by large amounts of data and relatively simple data models, making it a natural challenge for logic-based knowledge representation and reasoning techniques. Considering relational database (RDB) technology as a yardstick, we show that careful engineering of OBDA can achieve RDB-like scalability even in demanding applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the potential of OBDA in a typical business-size application.