Automatic Ontology Generation of Bim and Gis Data

Abstract

Abstract. Data represented in the form of geospatial context and detailed building information are prominently nurturing infrastructure development and smart city applications. Bringing open-formats from data acquisition level to information engineering accelerates geospatial technologies towards urban sustainability and knowledge-based systems. BIM and GIS technologies are known to excel in this domain. However, fundamental level differences lie among their data-formats, which developed integration methods to bridge the gap between these distinct domains. Several studies have conducted data, process, and application-level integration, considering the significance of collaboration among these information systems. Although integration methods have narrowed the gap of geometric dissimilarity, semantic inconsistency, and information loss yet add constraints towards achieving interoperability. Integration using semantic web technology is more flexible and enables process-level integration without changing data format and structure. However, due to its developing nature and complex BIM-GIS data-formats, most approaches adapted requires human intervention. This paper presents a method, named OGGD (Ontology Generation for Geospatial Data), that implements a formal method for automatic ontology generation from XSD documents using transformation patterns following three extensive processes; first, formalization of XSD elements and transformation patterns; the second process identifies corresponding patterns explicitly, and the last process generates ontology for XSD schema. XSD elements from open-standard data models of BIM and GIS, ifcXML and CityGML, are manipulated and transformed into a semantically rich OWL model. The ontology models created can be applicable for information-based integration systems that will nurture knowledge-discovery and urban applications.

Towards an Automated Transformation of an nD Urban Data Model to a Computational Ontology Network: From UML to OWL, From CityGML 3.0 to “CityOWL”

“…through automated transformation. Works such as (Kramer et al, 2015, Kyzirakos et al, 2018, Usmani et al, 2020, Zedlitz and Luttenberger, 2012 propose transformations from XML Schema to ontologies. Some existing works also suggest the transformation of UML models to ontologies (Gasevic et al, 2004, De Paepe et al, 2017.…”

Innovating the Construction Life Cycle through BIM/GIS Integration: A Review

“…This knowledge can store RDF triplestores, which can be queried by SPARQL endpoints [56] or, if stored in a graphic database, by NoSQL language [57,58]. The implementation of the conversion of IFC and GIS data to RDF/OWL requires dedicated tools, such as RDFlib and ifcOpenShell ( [59,60]). Once the BIM and GIS data are converted into ontologies, namely RDF graphs, graph matching for ontologies algorithms are applied to compare the two semantic structures and quantify the degree of similarity between them [16].…”

“…Integration of information models based on MDA and UML profiles, to improve interoperability between BIM, GIS and intelligent transport systems (ITS) [60] Ontology development N/A Proposal of a method for automatic ontology generation (OGGD) from XSD documents by means of transformation patterns. [62] Data interoperability Sustainability Proposal of a perspective for standardisation of ontologies for AECO industries.…”

“…Usmani et al [60] proposed a python-based solution prototype, named OGGD (ontology generation for geospatial data), for the automatic transformation of XSD schemas to OWL models for BIM and GIS (with ifcXML and CityGML files). The authors of [63], instead, developed the UDSA (urban district ontology assessment) from a reconciliation work of 61 frameworks and ontologies reviewed, with the aim of highlighting the lack of consensus and the absence of a high-level conceptual ontology in this domain.…”