Understanding ontological engineering

Ontological engineering has garnered increasing attention over the last few years, as researchers have recognized ontologies are not just for knowledge-based systems---all software needs models of the world, and hence can make use of ontologies at design time [1]. A recent survey of the field [4] suggests developers of practical AI systems may especially benefit from their use. This survey earmarked several application classes that benefit from using ontologies, including natural language processing, intelligent information retrieval (especially from the Internet), virtual organizations, and simulation and modeling.