https://w3id.org/obpa#
Vocabulary for describing organizational structures of building permit authorities
Further detailed information can be found in the paper "Ontology for building permit authorities (OBPA) for advanced building permit processes".
Ontology Requirements Specification Document |
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1 |
Purpose |
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The purpose of the OBPA is to provide a structural basis for representing the organizational structure of building permit authorities and to support decision making for a process that is either supported or automated. The objective is to ensure a transparent, objective, and rule-based process for assigning building permit applications. |
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Scope |
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The scope of the OBPA includes the quality-assured and seamless exchange of information between building permit authorities, building officials, and applicants. The OBPA allows the representation of building permit authorities, related entities, and the relationships and attributes of entities relevant to building permit processing. Additionally, the OBPA represents data in different contexts to meet the needs of all end-users. The scope presented here is limited to the assignment process, although more subprocesses exist in the building permit process. To meet the objectives, general rules that apply to all building permit authorities are developed along with authority-specific rules (which apply to individual building permit authorities). |
3 |
Implementation Language |
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The implementation language for the OBPA is OWL for the T-Box and SHACL for business rules (i.e., the R-Box). This approach provides the necessary flexibility and expressiveness for modeling the complex relationships between building permit authorities, building officials, and building applications. The OBPA is operating bilingually in English and German. |
4 |
Intended End-Users |
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The intended end-users of this ontology are supervisory building officials, operating building officials, and applicants. It must be noted that the ontology itself is not directly used by end-users but is rather implemented as an application in a software tool. |
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Intended Uses |
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The OBPA is used to support the following use cases:
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6 |
Ontology Requirements |
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In addition to these use cases, the following nonfunctional requirements have been identified as crucial for the OBPA:
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Use Case 1: Description of the organizational structure of building permit authorities
Use Case 2: Support for decision making in the assignment process
Use Case 3: Automated assignment of building application to building official
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The central component of the agent module is the obpa:Agent class. This class has two subclasses, namely obpa:Person and obpa:Organization. The obpa:Organization subclass is further described in the organization module, while the obpa:Person subclass is directly assigned to activities and building applications in the OBPA. Activities describe the specific activity performed by a person in relation to a building application. Persons can be assigned to different roles within the OBPA through obpa:hasRole, such as applicant, building official, or supervisory building official, and they can be further classified into more specific subclasses based on their roles, such as obpa:BuildingOfficialRole. The role functions can also be used to enforce constraints, as certain process activities may only be performed by certain roles.
In addition to roles, expertise is introduced to the ontology by obpa:Expertise, which refers to the skills and knowledge that make a person an expert in a certain field. For example, a building official may possess expertise in inspecting a particular type of building. To determine whether the authority staff is administrative or technical, obpa:SubjectArea as introduced in addition to obpa:Expertise and obpa:hasRole. Each person assigned the role of obpa:BuildingOfficialRole is assigned a processing obpa:Sector in a territorial manner. In our example, the processing obpa:Sector is defined by an address range. The building official’s work experience is a crucial aspect for stating the years of experience a person has which relates in some cases to their skills or assigned tasks. In the OBPA, work experience is represented as a data property called obpa:work_experience, which is linked to the individual representing the building official.
As previously explained, organizations are a subclass of agents. Given that different authorities are involved in a building permit process, they are represented as a distinct subclass of organization (as depicted in Figure 3). In the OBPA, organizations are, for example, the building permit authority, heritage office, or environmental authority. The authorities are further structured into departments, which are modeled as obpa:Department and represent organizations themselves. A building authority can be linked to different departments through the obpa:hasDepartment relation.
Each authority is allocated a specific sector within the OBPA, which is represented by a postal code. This sector, also known as the processing territorial area, defines the boundaries within which the authority operates. The processing area ensures that the relevant building application falls within the authority’s area of responsibility. The obpa:Organization class is linked to the organization ontology and vCard ontology through owl:equivalentClass to org:Organization and vcard:Organization, respectively.
The core module of the OBPA is the building application module, which is depicted in Figure 4. This module is crucial to the ontology and is submitted by the building owner or applicant. Once submitted, a supervisory building official assigns it to anadministrative or technical building official. The building application itself refers to one or more construction projects. Each construction project contains one or more buildings, which can be classified into different types of buildings, such as commercial construction, heritage, or public construction. Building classification is critical for ensuring the appropriate assignment of building officials, who can process specific building classes based on their expertise. To facilitate further processing of the building application, building information is aligned to IfcOWL and BOT. This alignment is achieved by establishing an owl:equivalentClass relationship between obpa:Building and ifc:IfcBuilding or bot:Building. Additional building ontologies can be used and referenced based on the application and building model used.
URI | http://w3id.org/saro#Expertise |
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Description |
An advanced or exceptional knowledge or skill in an area or topic |
In range of |
hasExpertiseop |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#Point |
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Description |
Uniquely identified by lat/long/alt. i.e. spaciallyIntersects(P1, P2) :- lat(P1, LAT), long(P1, LONG), alt(P1, ALT), lat(P2, LAT), long(P2, LONG), alt(P2, ALT). sameThing(P1, P2) :- type(P1, Point), type(P2, Point), spaciallyIntersects(P1, P2). |
Super-classes |
geo:SpatialThingc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#SpatialThing |
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Description |
Anything with spatial extent, i.e. size, shape, or position. e.g. people, places, bowling balls, as well as abstract areas like cubes. |
Sub-classes |
geo:Pointc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#Organization |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
An object representing an organization. An organization is a single entity, and might represent a business or government, a department or division within a business or government, a club, an association, or the like. |
Super-classes |
Agentsc foaf:Agentc |
Sub-classes |
building authorityc Historic preservation authorityc ProofingStructuralEngineeringOfficec Departmentc NatureConservationAuthority_Erfurtc PublicAuthorityAgencyc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Organization |
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Super-classes |
foaf:Agentc Agentsc |
Sub-classes |
Departmentc building authorityc NatureConservationAuthority_Erfurtc PublicAuthorityAgencyc Historic preservation authorityc ProofingStructuralEngineeringOfficec |
URI | http://www.w3.org/ns/org#Role |
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Sub-classes |
ExaminerRolec external rolec |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent |
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Sub-classes |
Personc foaf:Organizationc org:Organizationc Organizationc vcard:Organizationc sdo:Organizationc foaf:Personc |
In domain of |
foaf:agefp foaf:genderfp foaf:birthdayfp |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Organization |
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Super-classes |
foaf:Agentc Agentsc |
Sub-classes |
building authorityc ProofingStructuralEngineeringOfficec Historic preservation authorityc Departmentc NatureConservationAuthority_Erfurtc PublicAuthorityAgencyc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person |
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Super-classes |
Agentsc foaf:Agentc |
In domain of |
foaf:firstNamedp foaf:lastNamedp |
URI | https://schema.org/Organization |
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Super-classes |
Agentsc foaf:Agentc |
Sub-classes |
Historic preservation authorityc Departmentc ProofingStructuralEngineeringOfficec NatureConservationAuthority_Erfurtc PublicAuthorityAgencyc building authorityc |
URI | https://standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/DEV/IFC4/ADD2_TC1/OWL#IfcBuilding |
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Sub-classes |
https://w3id.org/ocqa#CommercialConstructionc IndustialConstructionc ResidentialConstructionc SpecialConstructionc Heritagec |
URI | https://w3id.org/bot#Building |
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Sub-classes |
IndustialConstructionc ResidentialConstructionc SpecialConstructionc Heritagec https://w3id.org/ocqa#CommercialConstructionc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Activity |
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Sub-classes |
BuildingPermittingActivityc |
In domain of |
hasBuildingApplicationop hasSubActivityop |
In range of |
hasAgentop hasResponsibleop hasSubActivityop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#AdministrativeSubjectArea |
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Super-classes |
Subject areac |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Agent |
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Description |
Agents are actors or stakeholders associated with the building permitting process |
Sub-classes |
foaf:Personc vcard:Organizationc sdo:Organizationc foaf:Organizationc org:Organizationc Organizationc Personc |
In domain of |
hasResponsibleop holdsop hasRoleop hasAgentop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Building |
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Sub-classes |
Heritagec https://w3id.org/ocqa#CommercialConstructionc IndustialConstructionc SpecialConstructionc ResidentialConstructionc |
In domain of |
isKindOfop distanceToNaturalConservationdp BGFdp |
In range of |
hasBuildingop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#BuildingApplication |
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In domain of |
prcessed_byop assigned_byop includesop |
In range of |
hasBuildingApplicationop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#BuildingAuthority |
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Super-classes |
vcard:Organizationc org:Organizationc foaf:Organizationc sdo:Organizationc Organizationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#BuildingOfficialRole |
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Super-classes |
ExaminerRolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#BuildingPermittingActivity |
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Super-classes |
Activityc |
Restrictions |
hasAgentop only () |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#ConstructionProject |
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In domain of |
hasBuildingop |
In range of |
includesop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Department |
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Super-classes |
sdo:Organizationc org:Organizationc Organizationc vcard:Organizationc foaf:Organizationc |
In range of |
hasDepartmentop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#ExaminerRole |
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Description |
Describes roles to examine building applications |
Super-classes |
org:Rolec Rolec |
Sub-classes |
FireProtectionEngineerRolec PublicOfficerRolec BuildingOfficialRolec ProofingStructuralEngineerRolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Expertise |
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Description |
Describes the capability of a person or building official |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#FireOfficialRole |
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Super-classes |
ExaminerRolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Heritage |
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Super-classes |
Buildingc bot:Buildingc https://standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/DEV/IFC4/ADD2_TC1/OWL#IfcBuildingc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#HistoricPreservationAuthority |
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Super-classes |
sdo:Organizationc vcard:Organizationc Organizationc org:Organizationc foaf:Organizationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#IndustrialConstruction |
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Super-classes |
bot:Buildingc Buildingc https://standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/DEV/IFC4/ADD2_TC1/OWL#IfcBuildingc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#NatureConservationAuthority_Erfurt |
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Super-classes |
sdo:Organizationc org:Organizationc Organizationc vcard:Organizationc foaf:Organizationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Organization |
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Super-classes |
foaf:Agentc Agentsc |
Sub-classes |
Historic preservation authorityc Departmentc ProofingStructuralEngineeringOfficec NatureConservationAuthority_Erfurtc PublicAuthorityAgencyc building authorityc |
In domain of |
hastPostop hasSectorop hasDepartmentop |
In range of |
employed_byop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Person |
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Description |
A human being involved in the building permitting process. |
Super-classes |
foaf:Agentc Agentsc |
Restrictions |
hasRoleop some Rolec |
In domain of |
coversSectorop employed_byop hasExpertiseop |
In range of |
assigned_byop prcessed_byop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Plotofland |
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Description |
A plot of land describes a area in which the building will be placed. The plot of land is an important part of the building permit |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Post |
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In domain of |
definesRoleop |
In range of |
hastPostop holdsop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#ProofingStructuralEngineerRole |
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Super-classes |
ExaminerRolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#ProofingStructuralEngineeringOffice |
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Super-classes |
sdo:Organizationc vcard:Organizationc Organizationc foaf:Organizationc org:Organizationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#PublicAuthorityAgency |
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Super-classes |
sdo:Organizationc org:Organizationc Organizationc vcard:Organizationc foaf:Organizationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#PublicOfficerRole |
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Super-classes |
ExaminerRolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#ResidentialConstruction |
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Super-classes |
bot:Buildingc https://standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/DEV/IFC4/ADD2_TC1/OWL#IfcBuildingc Buildingc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Role |
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Sub-classes |
external rolec ExaminerRolec |
In range of |
hasRoleop definesRoleop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#Sector |
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In range of |
hasSectorop coversSectorop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#SpecialConstruction |
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Super-classes |
bot:Buildingc Buildingc https://standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/DEV/IFC4/ADD2_TC1/OWL#IfcBuildingc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#SubjectArea |
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Description |
Describes which subject areas can be processed by an building official |
Sub-classes |
Administrative subject areac Technical subject areac |
In range of |
hasSubjectAreaop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#TechnicalSubjectArea |
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Super-classes |
Subject areac |
URI | https://w3id.org/ocqa#CommercialConstruction |
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Super-classes |
Buildingc https://standards.buildingsmart.org/IFC/DEV/IFC4/ADD2_TC1/OWL#IfcBuildingc bot:Buildingc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#adr |
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Equivalent properties | vcard:hasAddressop |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#hasAddress |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
To specify the components of the delivery address for the object |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#hasCountryName |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
Used to support property parameters for the country name data property |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#hasOrganizationName |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
Used to support property parameters for the organization name data property |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#hasPostalCode |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
Used to support property parameters for the postal code data property |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#hasStreetAddress |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
Used to support property parameters for the street address data property |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#hasValue |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
Used to indicate the resource value of an object property that requires property parameters |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/member |
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Equivalent properties | employed_byop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#assigned_by |
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Domain(s) | Building Applicationc |
Range(s) | Personc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#definesRole |
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Description |
Indicates the role that any holder of the Post plays in the organization. |
Domain(s) | Positionc |
Range(s) | Rolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#employed_by |
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Domain(s) | Personc |
Range(s) | Organizationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasBuilding |
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Domain(s) | construction projectc |
Range(s) | Buildingc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasBuildingApplication |
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Domain(s) | Activityc |
Range(s) | BuildingApplicationc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasDepartment |
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Domain(s) | Organizationc |
Range(s) | Departmentc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasExpertise |
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Super-properties | owl:topObjectProperty |
Domain(s) | Personc |
Range(s) | http://w3id.org/saro#Expertisec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasPost |
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Domain(s) | Organizationc |
Range(s) | Postc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasResponsible |
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Description |
Describes the responsable Agents for an activity |
Domain(s) | Agentsc |
Range(s) | Activityc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasRole |
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Description |
Indicates the role that a person has in an organisation. |
Super-properties | owl:topObjectProperty |
Domain(s) | Agentsc |
Range(s) | Rolec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasSector |
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Domain(s) | Organizationc |
Range(s) | Sectorc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasSubActivity |
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Domain(s) | Activityc |
Range(s) | Activityc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#hasSubjectArea |
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Domain(s) | () |
Range(s) | SubjectAreac |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#includes |
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Super-properties | owl:topObjectProperty |
Domain(s) | Building Applicationc |
Range(s) | ConstructionProjectc |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#process |
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Inverse properties | prcessed_byop |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#processed_by |
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Super-properties | owl:topObjectProperty |
Domain(s) | Building Applicationc |
Range(s) | Personc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/age |
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Is Defined By | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ |
Description |
The age in years of some agent. |
Domain(s) | foaf:Agentc |
Range(s) | rdfs:Literalc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/birthday |
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Is Defined By | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ |
Description |
The birthday of this Agent, represented in mm-dd string form, eg. '12-31'. |
Domain(s) | foaf:Agentc |
Range(s) | rdfs:Literalc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/gender |
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Is Defined By | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ |
Description |
The gender of this Agent (typically but not necessarily 'male' or 'female'). |
Domain(s) | foaf:Agentc |
Range(s) | rdfs:Literalc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#organization-name |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
To specify the organizational name associated with the object |
Range(s) | xsd:stringc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#postal-code |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
The postal code associated with the address of the object |
Range(s) | xsd:integerc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#region |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
The region (e.g. state or province) associated with the address of the object |
Range(s) | xsd:stringc |
URI | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#street-address |
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Is Defined By | http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns |
Description |
The street address associated with the address of the object |
Range(s) | xsd:stringc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/firstName |
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Is Defined By | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ |
Description |
The first name of a person. |
Domain(s) | foaf:Personc |
Range(s) | rdfs:Literalc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/lastName |
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Is Defined By | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ |
Description |
The last name of a person. |
Domain(s) | foaf:Personc |
Range(s) | rdfs:Literalc |
URI | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/title |
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Is Defined By | http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ |
Description |
Title (Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr. etc) |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#BGF |
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Domain(s) | Buildingc |
Range(s) | xsd:doublec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#dinstanceToNaturalConservation |
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Domain(s) | Buildingc |
Range(s) | xsd:doublec |
URI | https://w3id.org/obpa#work_experience |
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Super-properties | owl:topDataProperty |
Range(s) | xsd:integerc |
https://w3id.org/obpa#
https://w3id.org/bot#
http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
http://purl.org/dc/terms/
http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/
http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#
https://w3id.org/obpa/0.3#
http://www.w3.org/ns/org#
http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#
http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#
http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#
http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
https://schema.org/
http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#
http://www.w3.org/2006/vcard/ns#
http://www.w3.org/2003/06/sw-vocab-status/ns#
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#
c | Classes |
op | Object Properties |
fp | Functional Properties |
dp | Data Properties |
ap | Annotation Properties |
p | Properties |
ni | Named Individuals |