Semantic rule-checking for regulation compliance checking: an overview of strategies and approaches

As more and more architectural design and construction data is represented in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data model, it makes sense to take advantage of the underlying logical basis of RDF and realise a semantic rule-checking process as it is currently not available in architectural design and construction industry. Such a semantic rule-checking process would be of considerable value to regulation compliance checking procedures, because the additional logical basis would (1) allow consistency checking of the rules in the regulations (and thus a better management of the rules), (2) allow a faster, more transparent and more reliable implementation of regulation compliance checking procedures (rules are human-readable and more easily changeable), and (3) provide the option to rely on available reasoning engines and generate proofs without any additional implementation effort. Obviously, there are a number of strategies and approaches that can be followed regarding the realisation of such a rule-checking process. In this article, we will outline a number of rule-checking approaches that have been reported for semantic rule-checking in the AEC domain, including rule-based checking algorithms implemented on BIM platforms as plug-ins, Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) rule based checking relying on an external rule engine, and N3Logic-based rule checking using a backward-chaining procedure. For every approach, a number of implementation procedures will be considered. This will result in a comprehensive strategic overview at the end of the paper, which can be used as a guide for parties interested in implementing a semantic rule-checking process for regulation compliance checking.