TY - JOUR
T1 - Application of semantic Web ontologies for the improvement of information exchange in existing buildings
AU - Sadeghineko, Farhad
AU - Kumar, Bimal
N1 - Funding Information:
This is a substantially extended and enhanced version of the paper presented at The 20th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR 2020). The authors would like to acknowledge the editorial contributions of Professor Nashwan Dawood and Dr Farzad Rahimian of Teesside University in the publication of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2021/7/22
Y1 - 2021/7/22
N2 - Purpose: Facilitating the information exchange and interoperability between stakeholders during the life-cycle of an asset can be one of the fundamental necessities for developing an enhanced information exchange framework. Such a framework can also improve the successful accomplishment of building projects. This paper aims to use Semantic Web technologies for facilitating information exchange within existing building projects. Design/methodology/approach: In real-world building projects, the construction industry’s information supply chain may initiate from near scratch when new building projects are started resulting in diverse data structures represented in unstructured data sources, like Excel spreadsheets and documents. Large-scale data generated throughout a building's life-cycle requires exchanging and processing during an asset's Operation and Maintenance (O&M) phase. Building information modelling (BIM) processes and related technologies can address some of the challenges and limitations of information exchange and interoperability within new building projects. However, the use of BIM in existing and retrofit assets has been hampered by the challenges surrounding the limitations of existing technologies. Findings: The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it briefly outlines the framework previously developed for generating semantically enriched 3D retrofit models. Secondly, a framework is proposed focussing on facilitating the information exchange and interoperability for existing buildings. Semantic Web technologies and standards, such as Web Ontology Language and existing AEC domain ontologies are used to enhance and improve the proposed framework. Originality/value: The proposed framework is evaluated by implementing an example application and the Resource Description Framework data produced by the previously developed framework. The proposed approach makes a valuable contribution to the asset/facilities management (AM/FM) domain. It should be of interest to various FM practices for existing assets, such as the building information/knowledge management for design, construction and O&M stages of an asset’s life-cycle.
AB - Purpose: Facilitating the information exchange and interoperability between stakeholders during the life-cycle of an asset can be one of the fundamental necessities for developing an enhanced information exchange framework. Such a framework can also improve the successful accomplishment of building projects. This paper aims to use Semantic Web technologies for facilitating information exchange within existing building projects. Design/methodology/approach: In real-world building projects, the construction industry’s information supply chain may initiate from near scratch when new building projects are started resulting in diverse data structures represented in unstructured data sources, like Excel spreadsheets and documents. Large-scale data generated throughout a building's life-cycle requires exchanging and processing during an asset's Operation and Maintenance (O&M) phase. Building information modelling (BIM) processes and related technologies can address some of the challenges and limitations of information exchange and interoperability within new building projects. However, the use of BIM in existing and retrofit assets has been hampered by the challenges surrounding the limitations of existing technologies. Findings: The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it briefly outlines the framework previously developed for generating semantically enriched 3D retrofit models. Secondly, a framework is proposed focussing on facilitating the information exchange and interoperability for existing buildings. Semantic Web technologies and standards, such as Web Ontology Language and existing AEC domain ontologies are used to enhance and improve the proposed framework. Originality/value: The proposed framework is evaluated by implementing an example application and the Resource Description Framework data produced by the previously developed framework. The proposed approach makes a valuable contribution to the asset/facilities management (AM/FM) domain. It should be of interest to various FM practices for existing assets, such as the building information/knowledge management for design, construction and O&M stages of an asset’s life-cycle.
KW - Building Information Modelling (BIM)
KW - Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)
KW - Information exchange and interoperability
KW - Point Cloud Data (PCD)
KW - Resource Description Framework (RDF)
KW - Semantic Web technologies
KW - Web Ontology Language (OWL)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111498307&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/CI-03-2021-0058
DO - 10.1108/CI-03-2021-0058
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85111498307
SN - 1471-4175
VL - 22
SP - 444
EP - 464
JO - Construction Innovation
JF - Construction Innovation
IS - 3
ER -