A Framework for Regulatory Ontology Construction within AEC Domain

Within the last decade or so, ontology engineering, in line with the proliferous expansion of the open/linked/semantic web of things, has infiltrated many facets of research and is now clearly ubiquitous even within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) domain. With specific focus on engineering of ontologies from a legislative perspective, current solutions leave many questions relating to best practice unanswered and provide minimal guidance to how, as engineers, we can accurately develop accurate, standards compliant ontological manifestations of legal documentation. We present our research in the form of a process framework for semi-automated ontology construction using building regulations as an example scenario. This work will appeal to engineers familiar with the preceding technicalities as well as newcomers to ontology engineering who are challenged with alternative manifestations of legal documents within the AEC domain. The objective therefore is to further enable improved uptake and cultural embracement of open government data using the platform provided by linked data paradigm for better communication of AEC regulations.