Topological Reasoning in Basic Description Logics

In the recent past, several scholars have shown interest in the development of an integration between general classification reasoning, as typically performed in Description Logic frameworks [DL2003], and Spatial Reasoning [CohnH01], usually carried out in a constraint-based context. Two approaches have been carried out in the recent past. One is based upon the extension ALCRP(D) of ALC with concrete domains, where the spatial reasoning capabilities of the framework are deployed by means of standard topological interpretation of ra- tional numbers [HaLM1999]. The other one, instead, is based on the extension ALCIRCC [Wess2002] of ALC with role formation operators that are limited in scope to the definition of an algebraic-logic framework for spatial reasoning quite well-known in the reference literature and usually referred to as the Region Con- nection Calculus [Rand1989, Rand1992]. The goal of both these approaches is the representation of the topological properties and relationships between spatial objects that are in fact elements of the domain of the interpretation.