An Ontologybased System for Urban Planning Communication

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An Ontology-based System for Urban Planning
Communication

• Claudine Métral

COST C21 Towntology Workshop Geneva - November
6-7, 2006
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Ontology-based System for Urban Planning

• PurposeContribute to a better communication
  between the various actors involved in an urban
  planning process
• Why?Due to the complexity of the urban planning
  processExample of Geneva Master plans
  (PDCplan directeur cantonal) Local plans
  (PDQplans directeurs de quartier, PLQplans
  localisés de quartier) Communal or thematic
  master plans Federal or cantonal laws Public
  consultations and opposition procedures GIS
  (SITG)

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Urban Planning Objects and Actors
Various objects
Various actors
urbanists
spatial data from GIS
3D city models
politicians
texts
maps, plans, pictures
inhabitants
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Ontology-based System for Urban Planning

• Three goals
• Semantic IntegrationOf the objects (data and
  documents) related to an urban planning
  project-gt creation of an urban knowledge base
• InterfaceTo visualize the content of the
  knowledge base
• AdaptationOf the interface to user profiles and
  centers of interest-gt access to the urban
  knowledge according to different viewpoints

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Ontology-based System for Urban Planning

• Semantic Integration
• Interface
• Adaptation to user profiles

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Semantic Integration

• An urban planning project
• Uses urban data and documents (spatial data from
  GIS, 3D city models, texts, maps, plans,
  pictures)Is represented in our system by an
  ontology with concepts and instances related to
  the data and documents so as to present an
  integrated view of the project

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Semantic Integration
concepts
data
semanticannotation
integrated view
3DCM
documents
instances

• understand the project
• find information

urbanobjects
knowledge base
(semi-)automatic extraction of concepts or
annotations
formalization with OWL-DL
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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3D City Models

• Many modelsWith different levels of detail (LOD)
• Many application areasUrban planningDisaster
  managementTraining or environmental simulations
  TelecommunicationsNavigation systems
• Future standard CityGMLCityGML unified 3D
  city model common information model for the
  representation of 3D urban objectsDefined in UML
  -gt 47 classes and many attributes

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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CityGML

• Geometric and topological modelVarious objects
  relief, sites/buildings, transportation,
  vegetation, water, city furniture
• Multipurpose modelVarious application fields as
  3D city models
• Multiscale modelFive levels of detail LOD 0 to
  LOD 4
• External references possibleAs links to external
  ressources databases, etc.
• More information on the CityGML web site

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Example Building Model in CityGML
fromKolbe 2005
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Abstract View of CityGML
City Model
City Object

Generic City Object
Transportation Object
Relief Feature
Vegetation Object
Water Object
Land Use
City Object Group
City Furniture
Site
Relief Component
Transportation Complex
Abstract Building
Water Body
Plant Cover
Room
Solitary Vegetation Object
TIN Relief
Water Boundary Surface
Building Part
Track
Boundary Surface
BuildingInstallation
Mass Point Relief
Building
Road
Traffic Area
BuildingFurniture
Breakline Relief
Auxiliary Traffic Area
Water Surface
Railway
Opening
Square
Water Ground Surface
Ceiling Surface
Raster Relief
Door
Interior Wall Surface
Water Closure Surface
Window
Floor Surface
isA link
Roof Surface
partOf link
Closure Surface
Wall Surface
Ground Surface
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Ontology for Urban Planning Process

• CityGML is not sufficient for urban planning

City GML
Geometric concepts
Other types of concepts such as right_of_way
(droit de passage) or soft_mobility (mobilité
douce) Other types of relations such asis_used_by
UrbanPlanningProcess

• Creation of an Ontology of Urban Planning Process
  OUPP
• Semantic links between CityGML and OUPP

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Example of Concept Alignments
CityGML
OUPP
PLQ
City Model
City Object
vegetation
VegetationObject
compensationtree
protected tree
SolitaryVegetationObject
Plant Cover
tree to cut down
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Example of Integration Concepts
is a
uses
mobility(mobilité)
is used for
participates in
soft mobility(mobilité douce)
thoroughfare(voies de communication)
transport(moyens de transport)
transportation user (usager)
not motorized transport(moyens de
transport non motorisés)
green way(voie verte)
pedestrian (piéton)
cyclist(cycliste)
pedestrian path(chemin piétonnier)
walking(marche à pied)
cycle path(piste cyclable)
bicycle(bicyclette)
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Example of Integration Documents

• Instance of conceptPromenade_des_Parcs instance
  of concept green_way
• Various documents related to this instance
• Various sources for these documentsMaster plans
  (PDC, PDQ) SITG (graph of the soft mobility
  geometric entities with attributes)
• Integration of these documents with OUPP

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Example of Integration
mobility(mobilité)
transportation user (usager)
transport(moyens de transport)
soft mobility(mobilité douce)
thoroughfare(voies de communication)
not motorized transport(moyens de
transport non motorisés)
pedestrian (piéton)
green way(voie verte)
cyclist(cycliste)
pedestrian path(chemin piétonnier)
walking(marche à pied)
cycle path(piste cyclable)
bicycle(bicyclette)
Promenadedes Parcs
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Ontology-based System for Urban Planning

• Semantic Integration
• Interface
• Adaptation to user profiles

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Interface

• To visualize the content of the knowledge base-gt
  visual objects to define from the objects of the
  knowledge baseObjects of various kinds
  documents, 3D objects but also abstract
  concepts-gt define representations for non
  geometric objectsLinks between these urban
  planning objects -gt assemble the interface
  elements and generate navigation links in the
  interface a spatial hypermedia document

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Interface
visualrepresentations
interfacespecification
refers to
content of the knowledge base
refers to
layoutmanagers
interface generation
e.g. El Atifi Falquet 2005
The specification connects OUPP concepts to
visual representation objects
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Ontology-based System for Urban Planning

• Semantic Integration
• Interface
• Adaptation to user profiles

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Adaptation to user profiles

• Various profiles Various actors (urbanists,
  politicians, inhabitants, associations, etc.)
  with differences in terms of knowledge background
  and vocabularyFor example green_way (urbanist)
  versus pedestrian_path (inhabitant) Different
  centers of interest for inhabitants A and B-gt
  different user profiles-gt represented by user
  ontologies aligned with OUPP and CityGML

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Adaptation to user profiles
OUPPCityGML
concepts
inhabitant A
inhabitant B
urbanist X
instances
user specific ontologies
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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Example of Adapted Interface

• Promenade_des_Parcs Urbanist XInterested by
  concepts right_of_ways or dangerous_intersections
  (that can be defined by a crossing between a
  main_road and a green_way)Inhabitant
  AInterested by the remarkable_objects (trees,
  buildings) along the Promenade_des_ParcsInhabita
  nt BInterested by the time_of_travelling to go
  through the Promenade_des_Parcs

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Adaptation to user profiles

• Adapted interface Visualization of what is
  useful or relevant to the userExploratory
  interface to understand an urban planning project
  in a personalized way
• Ontology-based approachAdaptation to the user
  profile not only of the content of the knowledge
  base but also of the interface-gt Different
  viewpoints and representations of the same
  concept are possible

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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Example of Adapted Visualization

• Promenade_des_Parcs Urbanist XA map with
  symbols correlated to the concepts right_of_way
  or dangerous_intersectionInhabitant AA 3D
  scene with remarkable_objectsInhabitant BA 3D
  scene with time_of_travelling in superimposition

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Example of Adapted Visualization

• Promenade_des_Parcs

concepts
inhabitant A
inhabitant B
23 min.
urbanist X
instances
user specific interface composition (object
representation, vocabulary, etc.)
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Conclusion

• Definition of an ontology-based system to improve
  the communication of urban planning projects

OUPPCityGML
inhabitant A
inhabitant B
urbanist X
urbanobjects
user specific interfaces
user specific ontologies
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Future Work

• OUPPTo enhance and validate
• Specification language of the interfacesAdapt
  the actual general-purpose specification language
  to the urban planning context
• Interface DesignFind and test (3D)
  representations of the urban conceptsContinue
  our research on the relationship between image
  and text -gt integration of text in 3D scenes or
  integration of 3D scenes in text?

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System for Urban Planning Communication
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