Ontology

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Ontology
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What is an Ontology?
An explicit formal specification of the terms in
the domain and relations among them. - Noy
and McGuinness, Ontology Development 101
An ontology describes objects and concepts as
classes. These classes are arranged in a
hierarchy, and then class attributes and
relationships are described with properties.
Class
Subclass

• Defines vocabulary within a domain
• Defines relationships between objects in a
  domain
• Allows domain information to be reused by other
  ontologies
• Provides a common understanding of information
  in a domain
• Allows both humans and software agents to use
  domain knowledge

Subclass
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Classes
Classes are formal and explicit descriptions of
objects and concepts. Classes can be arranged
into hierarchies of subclasses and superclasses
to represent data organization in a domain.
Examples
Concepts

• Satellite Instruments
• Camera
• Shutterless camera
• Panoramic camera
• CCD
• Filter
• Infrared filter
• Optical filter
• UV filter
• Spectrograph
• Echelle grating
• Single spherical grating

1. Is-a Relationship Each subclass is a kind
of its superclass 2. Multiple Inheritance A
class can be a subclass of one or more classes
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Instances
Instances are individual occurrences or
manifestations of a class. An instance of a
subclass is also an instance of that subclasss
superclasses.
Class
Concepts
Example
Subclass
Instances
1. Granularity Instances are the lowest level of
granularity 2. Properties The properties
associated with the class are filled in with
instance values 3. Abstract Classes Declaring a
class abstract forbids it from having
instances useful if arbitrary lines between
class and instance are fuzzy

• Satellite Instruments
• Spectrometer
• SOHO Coronal Diagnostics Spectrometer
• SOHO Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer
• Yohkoh Bragg Crystal Spectrometer
• Yohkoh Wide Band Spectrometer
• Spectrograph
• HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
• HST Faint Object Spectrograph
• HST Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph

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Properties
Properties describe intrinsic and extrinsic
attributes of classes. They can also be used to
describe relationships between classes, such as
the has-a relationship between an object and
its component parts.
Class
Concepts
Examples
1. Domain and Range Domain classes which the
property describes. Range classes allowed
to fill in the property value 2. Value and
Cardinality Value Type of value allowed to fill
in the property value Cardinality number of
values a property may have 3. Inverse The value
of a property depends on the value of another
property a relationship is conveyed in two
directions
Subclasses

• Solar Event
• Flare
• Gradual Flare
• Start Time
• Duration
• Location
• Intensity
• Impulsive Flare
• Start Time
• Duration
• Location
• Intensity

Properties
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Axioms
Axioms are ontological assumptions that cannot be
described using only properties and property
values. Axioms can describe classes as disjoint,
subclass of, or same class as. Axiomatic
consistency can be checked with a reasoner.
Axioms
Example
1. Disjoint A pair of disjoint classes has no
instances in common useful in complex class
descriptions 2. Subclass of One combination of
classes and properties is a subclass of another
class of combination of classes and properties 3.
Same class as One combination of classes and
properties is equivalent to another class of
combination of classes and properties
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Why use an ontology?

• Common vocabulary
• Reasoner
• Relationships
• Software agents

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OTA

• A self-funded, non-profit organization
• comprised of major airlines, hoteliers, car
  rental companies, leisure suppliers, travel
  agencies, global distribution systems (GDS),
  technology providers and other interested parties
• working to create and implement industry-wide,
  open e-business specifications
• form a common e-business language that will
  encourage development of systems to create new
  collections of services to better meet the
  demands and expectations of travelers and the
  travel industry
• Members

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Open Travel Alliance

• Gokce Banu Laleci

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Workgroups

• Air, representing major airlines and airline
  associations
• Car, representing a variety of car rental
  agencies
• Hotel, representing major hotel corporations and
  hotel associations
• Leisure supplier, representing tour operators,
  railways, ferry operators, cruise operators and
  any other area of travel, tourism and leisure
• Travel Insurance
• Non-supplier, representing Global Distribution
  Systems, software providers, and travel agencies

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OTA ebXML

• OTA announced endorsement of ebXML--- August 2001
• Utilize the ebXML secure messaging structure as a
  recommended reference envelope layer
• Recommends ebXML as a viable infrastructure for
  the exchange of OTA messages across private and
  public networks

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OTA ebXML

• goals in making this recommendation are
• to provide a viable and robust infrastructure
  which is both open and available
• to enable off-the-shelf implementations on a
  variety of platforms
• to allow on-the-wire interoperability between
  implementations.
• 2001 C specification contains the mapping for the
  distribution of OTA messages on top of ebXML
  messaging

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OTA Specifications

• 2001a
• 2001b
• 2001c
• 2002a
• 2002b
• 2003a

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OTA Messages
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Car Rental

• Vehicle Availability Rates Messages (2001b)
• OTA_VehAvailRateRQ - Requests availability of
  vehicle(s) by specific criteria that may include
  preferences such as vehicle type, pickup location
  and date/time, return location and date/time. It
  may also include special instructions, coverages
  etc.
• OTA_VehAvailRateRS - Returns information about
  the available vehicle that meets the criteria
  supplied at the time of request. The message may
  or may not include rates. If the rates are
  available then the various types of rates will be
  supplied. For example Hourly, Daily, Weekly,
  Weekend and Monthly. The response message may
  include Warnings from business processing rules
  or errors if the request did not succeed. In case
  the rates are not available, the response will
  contain zero rates.

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ

• OTA_PayloadStdAttributes
• EchoToken- a sequence number for additional
  message identification assigned by the requesting
  host system.
• TimeStamp - indicates the creation date and time
• Version
• Target (Test Production)
• SequenceNmbr A sequence number generated by the
  sending system that allows for tracking of
  message receipt or retrieval of specific
  message(s) for purposes of synchronization
  between systems

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ

• ReqRespVersion An indication of the version of
  the response message that is required
• MaxResponses a positive integer value that
  indicates the maximum number of responses desired
  in the return
• Point of Sale Identification - Identification
  number of the vendor that has made the vehicle
  availability request and agency number assigned
  by IATA, ARC, ESRP or TID

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ

• - Contains elements and attributes
  that form a Vehicle request
• QuoteType (Single Multiple)
• - Country of residence
  identified by ISO country code
• LocationCode
• DateTime
• LocationType (Airport Non Airport )

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• - Indicates the type of rates the
  customer is shopping for
• TravelType (Business Personal)
• ShopRateType (Business Leisure All)
• CorpDiscountNmbr
• PromoCoupon - Promotion/Coupon number honored by
  the vendor
• RateCode - Vendor specific rate code to be used
  for Availability
• RateType (Daily Weekly
• Monthly Weekend Unknown)

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• - Counts of different types of drivers
  on the rental
• AgeQualifyingCode - A code representing a
  business rule that determines the charges for a
  driver based upon an age range
• Count
• Adult
• YoungDriver
• YoungerDriver

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• ArrivalLocation
• MarketingAirline
• FlightNumber
• ArrivalDateTime
• SmokingInd
• GasPrePayInd

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• PreferLevel
• CompanyCode
• CodeContext
• PaymentType
• BillingId
• RefNumber
• CreditCardCode

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• - Insurance Coverage needed for the
  rental.
• CoverageType
• CoverageCode
• PreferLevel
• VehicleType
• VehicleDoorCount

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• PreferLevel
• VehicleClass (Mini Subcompact Economy)
• Type (Automatic Manual)

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• Quantity
• EquipType
• BirthDate
• Currency

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• DefaultInd
• Privacy
• NameType

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ-

• .
• .
• Loyalty programs in which the
  customer is enrolled. Some loyalty programs may
  be affiliated with the vehicle rental vendor
• - Information on documents associated
  with this person, for example, driver license.

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OTA_VehAvailRateRQ- SAMPLE
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Car Rental

• Vehicle Reservation Messages (2001b)
• OTA_VehResRQ - Requests a reservation of a
  specific vehicle type by providing criteria that
  shall include required information like vehicle
  type, pickup location and date/time, return
  location date/time
• OTA_VehResRS - Returns a confirmation number if
  successful, along with information aboutthe
  vehicle that has been booked

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Car Rental -2002a

• OTA_VehRetRes RQ/RS
• OTA_VehCancel RQ/RS
• OTA_VehModify RQ/RS

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Airline

• Air Booking (2001b)
• An airline booking message is
  sent to request a reservation on an airline for a
  flight itinerary, specifying the origin and
  destination of the traveler
• The response message, returns the
  airline reservation along with the Record Locator
  number and an indication of the status of the
  booking

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Airline 2001c

• seeks availability of flights on
  particular dates for an origindestination pair
  from one or more suppliers
• details availability of flights
  on particular dates for an origindestination
  pair from one or more suppliers

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Airline 2002a

• City pair
• Date
• Number and type of passengers
• Specific airline
• Specific flight
• Specific booking class
• Client preferences

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Airline 2002a

• Origin and destination airports
• Departure arrival date/times
• Booking class availability
• Equipment
• Meal information
• Codeshare information

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Airline 2002a

• OTA_AirPrice RQ/RS
• requests pricing information for specific flights
  on specific dates for a specific number and type
  of passengers
• The Pricing Response message contains a Priced
  Itinerary
• The set of flights sent in the Pricing request
  message
• Pricing information including taxes and full fare
  breakdown for each passenger type
• Ticketing information
• Fare Basis Codes and the information necessary to
  make a Fare Rules entry

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Airline 2002a

• OTA_AirRules RQ/RS
• requests text rules for a specific fare basis
  code for an airline and city pair on a specific
  date
• Optional information allows negotiated fare
  contract codes to be included in the request.
• The Rules Response message contains
• a set of text (human readable) rule information
  paragraphs. Each paragraph is identified by a
  rule code

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Airline 2002a

• OTA_AirFlightDetails RQ/RS
• requests flight leg and codeshare information for
  a specific flight on a specific data between a
  city pair
• The Flight Details Response message contains
• Airline
• arrival and departure times
• Equipment
• meal and duration
• codeshare information on time percentage
• electronic ticketing eligibility

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Airline 2002a

• OTA_AirLowFareSearch RQ/RS
• requests priced itinerary options for flights
  between specific city pairs on specific dates for
  specific numbers and types of passengers
• Time / Time Window
• Connecting cities
• Client Preferences (airlines, cabin, flight types
  etc.)
• Flight type (nonstop or direct)
• Number of itinerary options desired

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Airline 2002a

• OTA_AirBook RQ/RS
• requests the system to book a specific itinerary
  for one or more identified passengers. The
  message contains optional pricing information,
  allowing the booking class availability and
  pricing to be rechecked as part of the booking
  process.
• Optional
• Seat and meal requests
• SSR, OSI, Remarks
• Fulfillment information payment, delivery
  details, type of ticket desired

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Travel Insurance

• Insurance Quote Request (2001b)
• availability is determined by qualification
  factors (age of travelers, cost of trip,
  destination, etc.). An insurance availability
  search is equivalent to a request to an insurance
  vendor to provide a price for insurance services
• Insurance Quote Response (2001b)
• The insurance quote response returns to the
  requestor a price quotation, as well as details
  about the insurance company providing the quote,
  contact people/numbers if the requestor needs
  more information, any restrictions on the policy,
  and booking details

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Travel Insurance

• Insurance Book Request (2001b)
• resembles the insurance quote request in
  structure and contents
• Insurance Book Response (2001b)
• The insurance book response returns to the
  requestor the details about the insurance plan(s)
  booked as well as confirms the information that
  was sent with the insurance book request message

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Hotel

• Hotel Search Messages
• OTA_HotelSearchRQ (2001b) - Identifies the
  initial request for hotel property data
• OTA_HotelSearchRS (2001b) - Returns a list of
  hotel properties that meet the requested criteria
  and/or Warnings, or Errors if the request did not
  succeed

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Hotel

• Hotel Availability Messages
• (2001b) - Requests
  availability of hotel properties by specific
  criteria that may include dates, date ranges,
  price range, room types, regular and qualifying
  rates, and/or services and amenities
• (2001b) - Returns information
  about hotel properties that meet the requested
  criteria, indicating whether the requested
  service, rate, room stay, etc. is available
  within the date(s) specified. The response
  message may include Warnings from business
  processing rules, or Errors if the request did
  not succeed

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Hotel

• Hotel Reservation
• (2001b) Sends a request for a
  reservation to another system. All the elements
  and attributes that constitute the reservation
  that are known are sent with the request
• (2001b) - Returns confirmation
  that the reservation has been successfully
  booked, and includes a confirmation or
  reservation number to identify the reservation.
  Warnings from business processing rules or errors
  are returned if the request did not succeed. It
  may optionally include the updated reservation
  data

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Hotel

• Hotel Reservation Notification
• OTA_HotelResNotifRQ Sends a reservation to
  another system. All the elements and attributes
  are optional, unless otherwise stated as required
• OTA_HotelResNotifRQ - Returns acknowledgement
  that the reservation has been successfully
  received, or includes Warnings from business
  processing rules or errors if the request did not
  succeed. It may optionally include the updated
  reservation data

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Commission Messages

• provides a request/response pair of messages to
  support the functionality of updating other
  systems with commissions to be paid.
• OTA_CommNotifRQ Sends a report to another
  system
• OTA_CommNotifRS - Returns acknowledgement that
  the report has been successfully received, or
  includes Warnings from business processing rules
  or errors if the request did not succeed

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Stay Information Notification Messages

• provides a request/response pair of messages to
  support the functionality of updating other
  systems with Guest Stay Information
• OTA_StayInfoNotifRQ Sends guest stay
  information to another system such as Central
  Reservation System or the hotel management
  company
• OTA_StayInfoNotifRS - Returns acknowledgement
  that the report has been successfully received,
  or includes Warnings from business processing
  rules or errors if the request did not succeed

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Statistics Messages

• OTA_StatsNotifRQ Sends a report to another
  system.
• OTA_StatsNotifRS - Returns acknowledgement that
  the report has been successfully received, or
  includes Warnings from business processing rules
  or errors if the request did not succeed
• OTA_StatsRQ Sends a request for a report to
  another system
• OTA_StatsRS

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Meeting Profile Messages

• - Requests the
  receiving system to accept creation of a meeting.
  All pertanent details about the meeting are
  included
• Returns
  acknowledgement of the request and can include
  additional information (reservationID)

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Hotel Availability, Rate and Inventory Messages

• OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ /RS
• OTA_HotelBookingRuleNotifRQ /RS
• OTA_HotelRateAmountNotifRQ /RS
• OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ /RS
• OTA_HotelInvCountNotifRQ/RS
• OTA_HotelInvNotifRQ /RS
• OTA_HotelInvBlockNotifRQ/RS
• OTA_HotelRatePlanNotifRQ /RS
• OTA_HotelDescriptiveContentNotifRQ /RS

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Package Tours/Holiday Bookings 2001c

• Package Availability
• Package Availability Request
• Provides the identification criteria for the
  package and customer requirements
• Package Availability Response
• Returns a priced summary of the requested package
  or Warnings, or Errors if the request did not
  succeed
• Package Booking
• Package Booking Request
• Package Booking Response

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OTA Profile Specification
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OTA Profile

• The OTA 2001A Profile specification defines the
  detailed business content of a customer profile
  from a travel industry perspective
• provides a set of common messages for
  transmitting customer profile data that customers
  provide to travel services to create these
  profiles, and for the exchange of profile
  information between travel services within the
  industry

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Profile
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Profile
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Profile
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Accesses
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Accesses
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Access
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Access
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Customer
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Customer
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Person Name
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Telephone Info
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AddressInfo
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PaymentInfo
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CreditCard
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Contact Person
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Document
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CustLoyalty
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Travel Preferences
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Preferences
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Vehicle Coverage Pref
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Other Travel services
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Affiliations
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Company Info
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Agreements