Infrastructure Research Ontologies

Abstract / Description

The work addresses a gap in understanding on the nature and role of ontologies for infrastructure research (particularly quantitative and invariably digital research) and its relevance for digital twins.  In particular it focuses on the absence of a single top-level ontology for infrastructure research which is perceived to be a barrier to accurate, appropriate and trusted integration between disparate data and models of infrastructure systems.

The absence of an explicit top level ontology is a concern in the context of the emerging trend for synthetic environments (i.e. digital twins) that attempt to collect real world data from diverse sources into digital representations, intelligently bringing them together with digital technology and providing insight for proactive interventions.

The Grenfell disaster is a case in point whereby diverse digital records of buildings in the built environment with particular characteristics were not available. There is a need to be more proactive (and preventative) by access to information at different scales, to address risks and prioritize interventions.

The purpose of the IRO project was to

1.     make recommendations to progress toward a top level infrastructure research ontology

2.     identify barriers, gaps and priority areas

3.     provide a shared framing for stakeholder engagement.