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

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




Linked PubMed databases

SOAP

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

• Two tasks

– automatic transformation of EXPRESS to OWL/RDF

– automatic conversion of IFC to RDF instances

ENTITY IfcDoor

SUBTYPE OF ( IfcBuildingElement);

OverallHeight : OPTIONAL IfcPositiveLengthMeasure;

OverallWidth : OPTIONAL IfcPositiveLengthMeasure;

END_ENTITY;


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

• Conversion of functions expressed in EXPRESS to ???

– built-in functions, N3 rules, ...

ENTITY IfcPixelTexture Width : IfcInteger; Height : IfcInteger; WHERE WR21 : Width >= 1; END_ENTITY;


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 );



:ifcDirection_11

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




[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/.

Pubby

OpenLink Virtuoso SPARQL endpoint


…


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).

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

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