KU Data Model, NEEScentral

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KU Data Model, NEEScentral Dublin Core
Ontologies

• Profesor Adolfo Matamoros
• Department of Civil, Environmental and
  Architectural Engineering
• University of Kansas

Will Kritikos Graduate Student Research
Assistant University of Kansas
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Topics

• Definition of Ontologies
• Ontology Engineering
• KU Data Model
• Description of Class Structure
• Usage
• Industry Foundation Classes
• Dublin Core File Metadata
• NEEScentral File Hierarchy
• Recommended Metadata Strategy

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What is an ontology?
Ontology is a description of the concepts and
relationships that can exist for an agent or a
community of agents
in other words...
Ontology is a formal and explicit description of
concepts in a certain domain. It features
properties and their restrictions for each
concept, as well as relationships among the
concepts.
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Ontology Engineering

• Specification Who will use this ontology? What
  will it be used for?
• Knowledge Acquisition Capture the concepts and
  relationships in the target domain.
• Integration Are there any ontologies we can
  reuse?
• Conceptualization Define the classes and
  relationships. Top-down, Middle-out, and
  Bottom-up.
• Implementation Code the ontology in a formal
  language.

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KU Data Model for Structural Engineering Research

• Ontology Coverage
• Research Projects
• Experiments
• Specimens
• Documentation
• Built on Standard Ontologies
• Industry Foundation Classes
• Projects, Specimens, Scientific Units
• Dublin Core
• Documentation

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Important Class Relationships
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Specimens

• The Industry Foundation Classes ontology can
  describe general structures
• A single specimen is considered in the IFC as a
  small structure
• Many specimens can be used for a single project
  or experiment
• Predefined structural materials include concrete
  and steel.
• Concrete can be post-tensioned, pre-stressed, or
  simply reinforced

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Using the KU Data Model

• Tools must be developed to input the metadata
  about a project into the KU ontology
• Tools need to be developed to visualize and
  search the metadata after it has been filled

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Use Case for the KU Data Model

• 3D renditions of specimen geometry and sensor
  locations were created using AutoCAD
• Materials were specified using Architectural
  Desktop
• Three-dimensional models were converted to IFC
  format (Express) using third party software
• Models were converted from the IFC (Express)
  format to the KU ontology format, XML, using a
  custom parser.

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Example 3D Models
Drawn By Mike Brunin The University of Kansas
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Dublin Core

• Standard set of metadata about documents
• Currently used by 75 international projects
  where metadata about files and documents needs
  to be maintained.
• Many companies, including Intel and Microsoft
  have shown great interest in Dublin Core

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Dublin Core Elements
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NEEScentral

• http//central.nees.org
• System of Hierarchical Folders
• Documents uploaded into these folders contain the
  majority of information about a project
• Some metadata information can be entered directly
  for projects, experiments, trials, and documents

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Recommend Use of NEEScentral

• Managing Research Data in NEEScentral by Tim
  Warnock and Lelli Van Den Einde
• Very good start describing what files to upload
  into the hierarchy.
• However, no document explaining the contact
  information, and project roles for people and
  organizations was recommended
• Metadata about each file was not specified

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Recommended Metadata for Each File in NEEScentral
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References

• Industry Foundation Classes Architecture
  Description
• http//www.iai-international.org/Model/R2x2_add1
  /order_by_architecture.html
• Dublin Core Introductory Guide
• http//www.w3schools.com/rdf/rdf_dublin.asp
• Managing Research Data in NEEScentral
• http//it.nees.org/documentation/library/data_met
  adata/000281.php
• KU Data Model for Structural Engineering Research
• http//neespop.ceae.ku.edu/ontologies/damster.owl