Co-operative categorization in civil engineering

Abstract

In the paper we indicate the way to allow the coexistence of multiple structures that are mutually supportive, but not mutually exclusive. It allows less organized users to classify entities according to their suitable structure, whilst leaving the possibility for specialised users to classify these entities into related field classification systems or domain ontologies, in mutually beneficial cooperation. Replacing the reductionist enumerative structure with multiplicative categorization should bring organizational and terminological flexibility that will allow future updates without disrupting the existing categorization. It allows one to use parallel hierarchical branches of categories according to aspects and classify the entity into several branches at the same time. It should allow users the freedom to create their own structures without disrupting the structures of other user groups. Such structures could coexist happily side by side. The aim is to indicate the model of an independent data organization system in building design in a multilingual environment, connected through diverse CAD, GIS, BIM, CAFM applications, ECM, CDE, emails, databases and file systems.