Formalization of the semantics of iconic languages: An ontology-based method and four semantic-powered applications

摘要

Iconic languages can represent concepts by the combination of graphical components (such as colors or pictograms). There are numerous examples, from traffic signs to computer user interface icons. However, these languages do not associate formalized semantics to their icons, which raises various problems: inconsistent combinations of graphical components, different interpretations of a given icon by two persons, difficulties to map the icons to the concepts of existing termino-ontological resources, etc.