Ontology Based Graphical Query Language Supporting Recursion

Text based queries often lead tend to be complex, and may result in non user friendly query structures. However, querying information systems using visual means, even for complex queries has proven to be more efficient and effective as compared to text based queries. This is owing to the fact that visual systems make way for better human-computer communication. This paper introduces an improved query system using a Visual Query Language. The system allows the users to construct query graphs by interacting with the ontology in a user friendly manner. The main purpose of the system is to enable efficient querying on ontologies even by novice users who do not have an in-depth knowledge of internal query structures. The system also supports graphical recursive queries and methods to interpret recursive programs from these visual query graphs. Additionally, we have performed some preliminary usability experiments to test the efficiency and effectiveness of the system.