Publication of the Approach to Develop the FDM for the IMF

[RachelJudson]

In November 2020 the National Digital Twin programme programme published the Survey of Top-level Ontologies (TLO) and the Survey of Industry Data Models (IDM) and Reference Data Libraries (RDL). You can find these publications under Gemini Commons/IMF technical Documents.  

The technical part of the proposed pathway to an Information Management Framework comprises of three main elements: 

• A Foundation Data Model 

• A Reference Data Library, and 

• An Integration Architecture  

which define a common structure and meaning for the consistent and integrated sharing of information. 

The pragmatic and technical requirements for the Foundation Data Model have now been developed and consideration has been given as to whether any existing Top-Level Ontologies could be used as a suitable start-point.  

There are four Top-Level Ontologies that meet all the technical requirements: BORO, IDEAS, HQDM and ISO 15926-2. They are distinct from the other Top-Level Ontologies in being 4-dimensionalist. These allow us to see individual objects as four-dimensional, having both spatial and temporal parts. 

We are therefore proceeding to develop the Foundation Data Model seed from these 4-dimensionalist Top-Level Ontologies. 

The Approach to Develop the Foundation Data Model for the Information Management Framework has been published here alongside the Surveys in the Gemini Commons/ IMF Technical documents.  

If you would like to ask any questions about the publication, the methods taken and choices made, head over to the IMF Community Network where the programme team are available to respond.