Contribution of Semantic Web to Collaborative Design
Yoke Chin Lai · Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia · 2004
This paper focuses on a lightweight ontology-based knowledge management system, which is a prototype that aims at enhancing the collaborative activities in the early building design phase. Technologies with respect to de facto standards proposed by industry group W3C are implemented to develop this knowledge management system. Resource Description Framework (RDF) associated with its Schema (RDFS) is selected as the ontology language used in the system. RDF(S) with its embedded reasoning techniques provides a rich set of constructs to facilitate the generation of ontologies so that the annotated information can be machine readable. Approaches of how the domain knowledge is represented in RDF(S)-based ontology, is shared and retrieved among stakeholders of building project will be described and illustrated in the paper. A proposition with respect to the contribution of this prototype system to collaborative activities undertaken in the early building design phase will also be discussed in the paper.