Workshop Ontology Modelling 2011, Session 3 - Ontologies in architecture, engineering and construction

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Session 3
Ontologies in architecture, engineering and
construction (AEC)

Workshop Ontology Modelling
Barcelona, 19-21 December 2011


Outline

1. Ontologies in the AEC sector: state of the art (P. Pauwels)

2. Case 1: architectural design information (P. Pauwels)

3. Case 2: energy related data (Alvaro Sicilia, Fàtima Galàn)


USE OF ONTOLOGIES IN THE AEC
SECTOR: STATE OF THE ART

3


There have always been ontologies,
also in the AEC sector…


Google


Databases


Programming code in UML


[1] P. Pauwels, D. Van Deursen, J. De Roo, T. Van Ackere, R. De Meyer, R. Van de Walle, J. Van Campenhout. Three-
dimensional information exchange over the semantic web for the domain of architecture, engineering, and construction.
Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 25 (4) 2011, 317-332.


AutoCAD


3DSMax

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" elementFormDefault="qualified" attributeFormDefault="unqualified"
version="3.1.2">


<xs:include schemaLocation="x3d-3.1-Web3dExtensionsPublic.xsd"/>
<xs:include schemaLocation="x3d-3.1-Web3dExtensionsPrivate.xsd"/>
[…]
<xs:group name="ComposedGeometryContentModel">
<xs:annotation>
<xs:appinfo>ComposedGeometryContentModel is the child-node content model corresponding to
X3DComposedGeometryNodes. It can contain Color (or ColorRGBA), Coordinate, Normal and TextureCoordinate,
in any order. No more than one instance of these nodes is allowed. Multiple VertexAttribute (FloatVertexAttribute,
Matrix3VertexAttribute, Matrix4VertexAttribute) nodes can also be contained.</xs:appinfo>
<xs:documentation source="http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications/ISO-IEC-19775-1.2-X3D-
AbstractSpecification/Part01/components/geometry3D.html#IndexedFaceSet"/>
</xs:annotation>
<xs:choice>
<xs:element ref="FloatVertexAttribute">
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation>attrib</xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
</xs:element>
<xs:element ref="Matrix3VertexAttribute">
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation>attrib</xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
</xs:element>
[…]

X3D Schema in XSD / XML
[2] X3D Schema Definition. http://www.web3d.org/specifications/x3d-3.1.xsd.


So, what about the BIM
approach?


[3] R. Verstraeten, P. Pauwels, R. De Meyer, W. Meeus, J. Van Campenhout, G. Lateur.
IFC-based calculation of the Flemish energy performance standard.
In: Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Product and Process Modelling 2008.


Current situation in construction industry


Semantic web technologies:
Let us link all information together
using one common generic language


design

[4] Linked Data – Connect Distributed Data across the Web. http://linkeddata.org/ (2011)


Just-in-time linking data

?


Semantic web stack

[5] Tim Berners-Lee. WWW past & future, 2003. http://www.w3.org/2003/Talks/0922-rsoc-tbl/.


RDF graphs

[6] P. Pauwels, D. Van Deursen, R. Verstraeten, J. De Roo, R. De Meyer, R. Van de Walle, J. Van Campenhout. A semantic
rule checking environment for building performance checking. Automation in Construction 20(5) 2011, 506-518.


Complex rules in an RDF graph


SOAP

Linked PubMed databases Open APIs

Parallel descriptions of information :
IFC/RDF + X3D/RDF + STL/RDF

STL/RDF

X3D/RDF

IFC/RDF

[7] P. Pauwels, D. Van Deursen, J. De Roo, T. Van Ackere, R. De Meyer, R. Van de Walle, J. Van Campenhout. Three-
dimensional information exchange over the semantic web for the domain of architecture, engineering, and construction.
Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 25 (4) 2011, 317-332.


CASE 1: ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
INFORMATION

30


Convert existing ontologies
to a semantic web version (OWL)


D2R server

[8] C. Bizer, R. Cyganiak. D2R Server – Publishing relational databases on the semantic web.
http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bizer/d2r-server/.


IFC-to-RDF
Mapping schema’s:
1. ifcXML to RDF/XML via XSLT transformation
1. Light-weight: conversion can occur
completely on an instance level
2. Time-consuming and prone to errors: it
takes time and concentration to build the
XSLT file
3. Limited expressiveness of RDF/XML
format (no rule functionality)
2. Translate EXPRESS schema to OWL ontology
and use the ontology to build RDF instance
graphs
1. Less prone to errors: once the mapping
between EXPRESS elements and OWL
elements is made, everything goes
smoothly and correctly
2. High expressiveness because of N3
syntax



RDF view on IFC

• IFC specification is written in EXPRESS

ENTITY IfcDoor
SUBTYPE OF ( IfcBuildingElement);
OverallHeight : OPTIONAL IfcPositiveLengthMeasure;
OverallWidth : OPTIONAL IfcPositiveLengthMeasure;
END_ENTITY;

• Two tasks
– automatic transformation of EXPRESS to OWL/RDF
– automatic conversion of IFC to RDF instances


Simplified OWL representation of IFC
ENTITY IfcDoor
SUBTYPE OF ( IfcBuildingElement);
OverallHeight : OPTIONAL IfcPositiveLengthMeasure;
OverallWidth : OPTIONAL IfcPositiveLengthMeasure;
END_ENTITY;
TYPE IfcPositiveLengthMeasure = REAL;
END_TYPE;

ifc:IfcDoor
rdfs:subClassOf ifc:IfcBuildingElement;
a owl:Class.
ifc:overallHeight
rdfs:domain ifc:IfcDoor;
rdfs:range xsd:double;
a owl:DatatypeProperty.
ifc:overallWidth
rdfs:domain ifc:IfcDoor;
rdfs:range xsd:double;
a owl:DatatypeProperty.


EXPRESS to OWL: challenges

• Name conflicts
– RDF properties are independent of classes
(<> EXPRESS)
– are the semantics still the same?
• Conversion of rules expressed in EXPRESS to N3 rules
ENTITY IfcPixelTexture
Width : IfcInteger;
Height : IfcInteger;
WHERE
WR21 : Width >= 1;
END_ENTITY;

• Conversion of functions expressed in EXPRESS to ???
– built-in functions, N3 rules, ...


IFC-to-RDF
Online service that converts
building information in the
Industry Foundation Classes
(IFC) schema into an RDF
graph

[10] MultimediaLab. IFC-to-RDF service. http://ninsuna.elis.ugent.be/IfcRDFService.
[11] MultimediaLab. IFC/RDF SPARQL endpoint. http://ninsuna.elis.ugent.be/SPARQLEndpoint/.

@prefix : <http://multimedialab.elis.ugent.be/ontologies/ifc/instances#>.
@prefix ifc: <http://multimedialab.elis.ugent.be/ontologies/ifc/ontology#>.
@prefix list: <http://www.co-ode.org/ontologies/lists/2008/09/11/list.owl#>.
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>.
@prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>.

:ifcOrganization_1
ifc:name "Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010"^^xsd:normalizedString;
ifc:theIfcId "1"^^xsd:long;
rdf:type ifc:IfcOrganization.

:ifcApplication_2
ifc:applicationDeveloper :ifcOrganization_1;
ifc:version "2010"^^xsd:normalizedString;
ifc:applicationFullName "Autodesk Revit Architecture 2010"^^xsd:normalizedString;
ifc:applicationIdentifier "Revit"^^xsd:normalizedString;
rdf:type ifc:IfcApplication.

:ifcCartesianPoint_4
ifc:coordinates ( "0.0"^^xsd:double "0.0"^^xsd:double );
rdf:type ifc:IfcCartesianPoint.

:ifcDirection_5
ifc:directionRatios ( "1.0"^^xsd:double "0.0"^^xsd:double "0.0"^^xsd:double );
rdf:type ifc:IfcDirection.

:ifcDirection_10
ifc:directionRatios ( "0.0"^^xsd:double "0.0"^^xsd:double "-1.0"^^xsd:double );
rdf:type ifc:IfcDirection.

:ifcDirection_11
ifc:directionRatios ( "1.0"^^xsd:double "0.0"^^xsd:double );

Pubby

OpenLink Virtuoso SPARQL endpoint

[12] R. Cyganiak, C. Bizer. Pubby – A linked data frontend for SPARQL endpoints. http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/pubby/.
[13] OpenLink Software. Virtuoso Universal Server. http://virtuoso.openlinksw.com/.


…


Build new ontologies and new information models


Architectural Information Modelling (AIM)


[14] P. Pauwels, D. Di Mascio, R. De Meyer, J. Van Campenhout.
About the interpretation of virtual heritage artefacts: case study of the Tower of Books in Ghent, Belgium.
In: Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (2012) (submitted).

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