TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING STANDARDS-BASED SEMANTIC E-RESOURCES IN THE EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION...

TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING STANDARDS-BASED SEMANTIC E-RESOURCES IN

THE EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Celson Lima1, Graham Storer2, Alain Zarli1, and C. Ferreira da Silva1

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the current status of the FUNSIEC project3, which is a feasibility project that aims at evaluating the potential use of Semantic Resources4 (SRs) in e-business matters, through the development of the Open Semantic Infrastructure for the European Construction Sector (OSIECS). This infrastructure is designed within the scope of the FUNSIEC framework. The requirements of OSIECS are identified, the SRs to compose OSIECS are selected, the OSIECS Meta-schema/Schema are created through the application of mapping techniques to the respective Meta-schemas/Schemas of the selected SRs, the conceptual architecture of OSIECS is designed, and the preliminary picture of the OSIECS infrastructure is drawn. This work discusses all these topics.

KEY WORDSSemantic resources, ontologies, e-business, open semantic infrastructure.

1. INTRODUCTIONThe FUNSIEC project touches a dynamic, constantly evolving subject: semantics. For industry generally to be able to communicate precisely, without ambiguity, has been a hugely relevant topic and challenge for two decades and good progress has been made (e.g. STEP-related works). However, the construction industry, whilst being one of the most ancient in the world, has solutions in place only in a minority of areas, including the e-business area. Perhaps the best example of a semantic-related topic tackled successfully in construction is the exchange of building models (ranging from geometrical to facilities management information) using appropriate standards, strongly catalysed by the IAI initiative through the IFC model and the respective software tools (Wix and Liebich 2003).

However, some international initiatives produced useful results that have been more fully capitalised, such as: (i) ebXML, which appeared as the horizontal backbone where the

1 Project Coordinator; Team Leader; and Ph. D. student. CSTB, 290 route des lucioles B.P. 209, 06904 Sophia Antipolis cedex, France, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected].

2 GSC, 18 Amersham Hill Drive, High Wycombe, HP13 6QY, United Kingdom, [email protected].

3 http://www.funsiec.org.4 Semantic Resource is an expression coined in the SPICE project which refers all ontology-similar entities,

such as taxonomies, dictionaries, thesauri, etc.. Two arguments support this choice: there is no consensus about what an ontology really is and there is a myriad of expressions currently available to define ontologies and similar resources.

Copyright ASCE 2005 Construction Research Congress 2005 Construction Research Congress 2005

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vertical and sector-specific solutions can be plugged; (ii) work developed by the Semantic Web group, which brought some light to the grey area of automatic recognition of semantics on the Web; (iii) encouraging results produced by European projects on the development, use and maintenance of SRs (e.g. eConstruct and e-COGNOS); and (iv) the launching of European initiatives targeting the “education” of the Construction sector regarding the adoption of e-business practices and the exploitation of SRs (e.g. prodAEC and SPICE).

FUNSIEC runs along the same lines, aiming to help educate and enthuse the Construction sector with the benefits of using SRs in e-business matters. Development and maintenance of SRs are also part of the game plan. It is perhaps worth noting that FUNSIEC also considers another aspect of interest: the e-business side of story. Therefore, technicalities are not the sole focus of in FUNSIEC. The business perspective rightly deserves a special place, expressed through the FUNSIEC Semantic Experience Centre, a Web-portal designed to let the construction sector know very directly the SRs currently available, how they can be used, usage scenarios where they can be used, demonstrations and, above all, the possibility to play with the SRs. Publicising the SRs is the first step in the FUNSIEC journey.

The FUNSIEC approach is centred on the SRs and relies on the following guidelines: (i) to capitalise on results produced by previous projects; (ii) to consider recommendations published by the standardisation bodies; (iii) to help reduce fear provoked by (not understood!) semantic things; and (iv) to target education of the Construction sector through a Web-portal where practitioners can play with SRs and learn (through mock-ups, films, tutorials, any sort of gadgets) how they can be used in their business activities.

It is clearly true that there is a wide gap between the results delivered by researchers and their adoption by the industry. Research is a way of foreseeing the future of business and commercialisation eventually delivers it. In between, a market has to be created and sometimes the language and the mechanisms used to promote the research results are not elaborated from the viewpoint of the end users. FUNSIEC is committed to helping “educate” the construction sector on the theme of “semantic resources” considering that making explicit semantics/meaning will raise the gains of the sector.

This paper is structured as follows: section 2 overviews the FUNSIEC approach; section 3 describes the FUNSIEC Infrastructure and section 4 presents the conclusions and briefly points out the future path for FUNSIEC in the next period.

2. THE FUNSIEC APPROACHFUNSIEC is essentially devoted to the question: is the OSIECS infrastructure feasible from a technical perspective and usable from the business angle? If the answer is yes, then what are the components of such an infrastructure and, if not, what are the alternatives that can be currently used by the construction sector to handle the semantic-related needs in the e-world.

The original idea behind OSIECS was the selection of the most relevant and most used SRs in the Construction sector for adoption as building blocks of OSIECS. The state of the art analysis performed in WP1 helped to select some promising candidates to be part of the OSIECS meta-schema 5. The OSIECS schema is the starting point of the work. Such a

5 The candidates are the following: the ISO 12006-3 standard, the IFC model, the building construction XML language (bcXML), and the ontology produced by the e-COGNOS project.


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schema is indeed a pivot that maps the SRs (forming OSIECS) among themselves. In order to open OSIECS to other SRs, FUNSIEC is elaborating a methodology (as generic as possible) to support the mappings.

The strategy adopted by FUNSIEC follows these steps: the characterisation of the scenario in which the OSIECS will work; the identification of the requirements to be accomplished; the description of the conceptual framework supporting the conception of OSIECS; and finally the characterisation of the e-services that can be used to capitalise it.

2.1 THE FUNSIEC SCENARIO

The scenario used to support the development of OSIECS is depicted in figure 1. It is a concatenation of three major scenarios, namely IFC, eConstruct, and e-COGNOS scenarios.

The IFC scenario is basically focused on the exchange of design-related information. It is an extension of CAD drawing exchange (that primarily focuses on exchange of geometry) into semantic representation of construction objects and relationships.

The eConstruct scenario is focused on e-procurement of construction products. It shows the use of electronic catalogues to support both design and sales process. In the first case the designer wants to try different products in his project. In the second case, the salesman uses the catalogue to show different alternatives to his clients. The catalogues are bcXML compliant and the eConstruct prototype is used to support all interactions. This prototype is formed by the bcXML Browser (bcXB), the Resource Database Server (RS), the Supplier Catalogue Server (SCS), and the Taxonomy Server (TS). The bcXB is a Web-based application that allows searching for any product described in a given taxonomy through multiple catalogues (taxonomy and catalogues are bcXML compliant) that are located in different countries and expressed in different languages. The RS is a front-end where the SCSs are registered. The SCSs are used to publish the catalogues of products of each supplier. Finally, the TS support all taxonomy-related needs (Lima et al. 2003a). For more information, please refer to the eConstruct final report, available at www.bcxml.org.

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Figure 1: The FUNSIEC ScenarioThe e-COGNOS scenario focus on knowledge management practices relates to regulation ontologies (Lima et al 2003b). It relies on the e-COGNOS Knowledge Management


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Infrastructure (e-CKMI) as well as on the e-COGNOS Ontology Server (e-COSer). The project manager feeds the system with knowledge about regulations, in this scenario the urlof regulatory bodies. During a project, he is informed about the publication of new regulations and then he uses the e-CKMI to verify if his on-going projects have to be changed in accordance with the new regulations regarding accessibility matters for disabled people. The e-CKMI is a Web-based, ontology-enabled, freeware tool that provides KM functionalities to support the Construction sector needs. Developed by the e-COGNOS project, it relies on an OWL-compliant ontology managed by the e-COSer, another Web-based application produced by e-COGNOS. More information is available at the e-COGNOS Web site (www.e-cognos.org).

2.2 REQUIREMENTS

The requirements guiding the development of the OSIECS kernel include technical, functional, and architectural elements as follows:

• Web-based: mandatory feature to support e-business needs. The Web is the arena where e-business is played;

• Freeware resources: this feature is vital in the feasibility analysis. People are more receptive if they do not have to spend identifiable money in investigating the benefits and advantages of using a given tool or technique;

• Open source tools: this is an important feature for the software vendors. In the e-business quest, they can play the role of evangelists in the deployment phase;

• Interoperability: the components of OSIECS should, as much as possible, be interoperable among themselves. This would facilitate the implementation of the kernel as well as the potential partnerships to be established among the owners/developers of the SRs used in OSIECS;

• Integration: assuming that the OSIECS is likely to have a promising future ahead, integration is a must;

• Flexibility: the OSIECS infrastructure must be easily adaptable to different scenarios and domains of work. This is where flexibility plays a strategic role in the selection of the components of the kernel.

2.3 THE OSIECS COMPONENTS

OSIECS is initially formed by the following SRs: bcBuildingsDefinitions taxonomy, the e-COGNOS ontology, the ISO 12006, and the IFC model. Their meta-schemas and schemas are the input sources to produce the respective ones for OSIECS.

The bcBuildingDefinitions is the taxonomy developed by the eConstruct project in order to demonstrate the power of bcXML6, an XML-based language tailored to the representation of products/services in the construction sector. Such taxonomy supports the objects of

6 The bcXML is primary capable of supporting simple eCommerce communication of products (materials, components, equipment, documents) and services inside or over the national borders.


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interest that were used in the eConstruct end-user demonstration scenarios and concentrates on the context of Buildings and especially doors in this case.

The e-COGNOS ontology focuses on construction concepts related to the consistent knowledge representation of knowledge items used in construction. In other words, the e-COGNOS ontology is used to support KM practices, such as knowledge acquisition, indexation, search, etc.. The e-COGNOS ontology is grounded on the IFC concepts, which are used to form its highest levels.

The primary target of the IFC Model is the interoperability among software applications within the building and construction market sector. IFC classes are defined according to the scope and the abstraction level of software systems dealing with building and construction specific content. Thus, the IFC model has not been developed as an ontology per se, however its object model is structured according to principles that are common with other semantic resources (CWA3 2004).

Finally, the ISO 12006-3 is a construction specific standard that defines a schema for a taxonomy model, which provides the ability to define concepts by means of properties, to group concepts, and to define relationships between concepts. Objects, collections and relationships are the basic entities of the model. The set of properties associated with an object provide the formal definition of the object as well as its typical behaviour. Properties have values, optionally expressed in units (CWA3 2004).

2.4 MAPPING AMONGST THE OSIECS COMPONENTS

There are three main elements to be considered when mapping the SRs (Euzenat et al. 2004), namely the structural representation, the syntax, and the semantics of the given SRs. The structure of a SR can be considered a complex composition of (knowledge-related) entities and their combinations, as shown in figure 2 (FUNSIEC 2004).

Vocabulary = List of terms

Dictionary = terms +

definitions

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+ Hierarchical relations

Thesaurus = Descriptor of concepts + finite set

of relations (hierarchical, associative, …)

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Vocabulary = List of terms

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Taxonomy = Classes + definitions

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Figure 2 – The structure-based hierarchy of SRsThe differences amongst the type of SRs are clearly pointed out in figure 2, such as the degree of formalisation, specificity (domain specific or generic), and type of relationships (Aussenac-Gilles and Mothe 2004). The syntax describes how the symbols of a given resource (e.g. language) may be combined to form syntactically accepted entities. Semantics complement the syntax in the sense that it states precisely the meaning of a syntactically accepted entity.


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The mapping process producing the OSIECS meta-schema/schema takes into account the three levels above mentioned. At the structural level, the structure of ontology is envisaged since it is the richer and more appropriate to FUNSIEC needs. In order to solve the syntax and semantics-related problems, one of the most recommended solutions is to represent (through a conversion) the original SRs in one single formal format. These converted versions are then free of syntactical problems. The semantics can now be handled (semi)automatically by experts supported by the appropriate software tools. This process is explained in more details in section 3.

2.5 THE EDUCATION AXIS IN FUNSIECOntology, taxonomies, and other meaningful terms are by their very essence strange and scary words to practitioners. FUNSIEC believes that an "Experience Centre" can help to overcome this sort of natural reaction to semantic-related resources. Therefore, as part of the feasibility study conducted in FUNSIEC, the "Semantic Experience Centre" (FSEC7) intends to provide a very modest "showroom" where people can get a better feeling for Semantic Resources (SRs), and for discovering potential benefits of SRs to their business. It is important to emphasise that this is an experimental work, which has one single aim: to help in the education process of the Construction sector in Europe.

The FSEC has been designed to help achieving the education target, through the following goals: (i) to show what are the SRs available now in Europe; (ii) to provide usage scenarios for the SRs; (iii) to explain, in a very simple way, how they can be used from a business point of view; (iv) and to provide demonstrations, films, mock-ups, or any other sort of "tool" that can help with promoting SRs.

The focus of the work here is on two points: to develop business scenarios that can clearly demonstrate the benefits of SRs for construction and to facilitate hands-on experience with the SRs. The former is supported through animated presentations showing the potential uses of the different SRs. The latter invites the user to have fun playing with the SRs and tools currently available to FUNSIEC. For instance, the bcXML prototype allows the creation of catalogues of products and to search among them, using different languages andsuppliers. Another example is the management of the e-COGNOS ontology through the e-COGNOS Ontology Server. The user can also create his/her own ontology, upload it to the e-COSer and manage it. Additionally, such an ontology can be used to index pieces of knowledge that can be re-used later, using the e-COGNOS Knowledge Management tool.

3. THE OSIECS INFRASTRUCTURE

3.1 FRAMEWORK & CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATIONS

The framework supporting the development of OSIECS is depicted in figure 3. It shows three mains layers, namely User, Application, and Resource. The User domain is where all the actors acting in the e-Business theatre are. The Application domain represents the e-Business areas of application. Finally, the Resource domain offers the SRs used by the respective tools from the application domain and adds a new piece into this scenario, which is the OSIECS

7 The FSEC is available at http://195.83.41.67/SemanticExperienceCentre/index.html.


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schema. Such a schema is, indeed, a pivot aiming at mapping (in different levels, as previously explained) the SRs among themselves. The Ontology Web Language (OWL) is used to represent the OSIECS schema.

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Figure 3 – The OSIECS frameworkThe approach adopted to conceive OSIECS started with the selection of the SRs that will form it. Since they are not represented in the same language, their respective meta-schemaswill be converted to OWL (the format adopted by FUNSIEC), which allows to (semi)automatically detects and validates similarities amongst the meta-schemas. This process produces the OSIECS meta-schema, which is the meta-schema that supports the mapping amongst the OSIECS components. The OSIECS meta-schema is then used to guide the mapping of the entities (i.e., concepts, relations, properties, etc.) defined in each one of the respective schemas of the OSIECS components. The final result is the OSIECS schema.

3.2 THE OSIECS KERNEL

Based on the framework described above, the preliminary version of the OSIECS Kernel is depicted in figure 4. It covers essentially both meta-schema and schema levels. In the former, the Kernel is formed by the following components: the Syntax Converter, the Semantic Analyser, the Converter, the Detector of Similarities, and the Validator. In the latter, the Kernel relies on the Entities Matcher.

The Syntax converter and the Semantic analyser work together using as input the meta-schemas of the respective SRs in order to produce the rules of conversion that will be used by the Converter to guide the production of the OWL meta-schemas for each of the SRs in the Kernel. The Detector of Similarities works with the OWL-converted meta-schemas help creating the OSIECS meta-schema. This meta-schema is then analysed and assessed by the Validator. Going one level down, the schemas of the OSIECS components are matched by the Entities Matcher. The output of this process is the OSIECS schema.


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Experts play a very important role in this process. They act in both level performing: (i) manual analysis of the SRs and their respective Meta-schemas and schemas; (ii) analysis of the rules of conversion; (iii) assessment of the detection of similarities; (iv) check of the validation process; and finally (v) assessment of the output of the Entities Matcher.

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Figure 4 – The OSIECS KernelIt is worth noticing that the experts are supported by software tools when: creating the rules of conversion, detecting similarities (at the meta-schema level) and matching the entities (at the schema level). This means the whole process is not that time consuming, as one might think looking at the experts’ involvement.

3.3 THE OSIECS INFRASTRUCTURE

The preliminary version of this infrastructure (figure 5) assembles the SRs and the tools used to manage them, together with the new components identified and described in the OSIECS Kernel. The whole infrastructure assembles the OSIECS components together with the tools used to manage the SRs, namely the eConstruct tools (bcXB, RS/SCS, and TS), the IFC tools (IFCViewer and IFCEngine), the e-COGNOS tools (e-CKMI and e-COSer), and the LexiCon Explorer.The vision is that the OSIECS Kernel, supported by both OSIECS schema and meta-schema, acts as a bridge amongst the different tools providing richer possibilities of using the SRs in a transparent way. For instance, an expert looking for knowledge (using the e-COGNOS tools) concerning problems related to the fire resistance of a given brick can, at the same time, find the information about alternatives products, their suppliers, prices, etc., now using the eConstruct tools in a totally transparent form. OSIECS Kernel is responsible for translating the need of the expert in the respective bcXML query, sending it to the bcXML server and getting back the right answers. Another example is for a designer developing a CAD drawing (IFC compliant) and, at the same time, needing to know about the regulations that must be followed in his/her project. In this case, OSIECS Kernel provides the between the IFC tools and the e-COGNOS tools.


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Figure 5 – The OSIECS Infrastructure

4. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORKThe current status of the FUNSIEC project has been presented. As previously mentioned, FUNSIEC is not a pure research project; rather it is a feasibility study of application and use of SRs in the Construction sector in Europe. Nevertheless, the research component is present through the conceptual development of the OSIECS infrastructure. Such an infrastructure assembles a set of SRs currently used to support the e-business needs of the sector in Europe, together with respective tools. The novelty is the OSIECS Kernel and the OSIECS meta-schema/ schema, which are to be released by the end of the project.

Practitioners have been invited to follow the evolution of the project and to express their needs and criticisms of the results. Education, in the widest possible sense, is the key factor in the FUNSIEC quest. A board of Evaluators is in place bringing together researchers from Spain, Netherlands, England, and Canada, all working in the field of semantics and in a position to assess and help FUNSIEC to produce the best possible results.

Education requires having the right material to hand, the appropriate dissemination channels, and well-informed “champions” capable of demonstrating the hard benefits and gains of standardised resources. The FUNSIEC Semantic Experience Centre is intended to be an instrument in the education process for showing, using and explaining SRs, primarily from a business point of view through a variety of means (demonstrations, films, mock-ups, or any other sort of tool) and particularly facilitating and encouraging hands-on experience with the SRs.


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FUNSIEC is now in the final and crucial part of its project cycle. The OSIECS infrastructure must be put in place and assessed from both technical and business perspective. Here, the OSIECS Kernel, the meta-schema, and the schema are vital. FUNSIEC results must become known within the Construction community. The success of the Semantic Experience Centre relies on its awareness and acceptance. Promoting, disseminating and making FUNSIEC known within the construction sector is the first challenge on the way to education of organisations over SRs.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors would like to thank people from FUNSIEC and e-COGNOS projects as well as the financial support from the European Commission under the eContent programme.

6. REFERENCESWix, J., Liebich, T. (2003) IFC: Current Reality and Future Potential, In Proceedings of 10th

ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications, Madeira, Portugal, July 2003.

Lima, C. P., Stephens, J., Bohms, M. (2003) The bcXML: Supporting eCommerce and Knowledge Management in the construction industry. Itcon Journal, v. 8, p. 293-308, 2003.

Lima, C. P., Fiès, B., Lefrancois, G., Diraby, T. E. (2003). The challenge of using a domain Ontology in KM solutions: the e-COGNOS experience. In: 10TH ISPE 2003, 2003, Funchal, Portugal. International Conference on Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications. 2003. p. 771-778.

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TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING STANDARDS-BASED SEMANTIC E-RESOURCES IN THE EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION...

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