Linked Product Data

The digitisation in the building domain results in a variety of software tools. Especially for product descriptions, this heterogeneity is troublesome, as they should suit each use case and software application. To sufficiently describe building products, open and vendor-neutral product description schemes are needed. Current product description schemes include the template-driven directive VDI 3805 and the IFC that is originally introduced for entire building models. As neither support the use case of multi-functional and parametric products, a novel product description schema is needed.
This thesis introduces the concept of Linked Product Data as a flexible, modular, and machine-readable product description schema that can be adapted for any use case or domain, e.g. as Linked Building Product Data for the building domain. As generic core, the novel Building Product Ontology (BPO) for defining product compositions, component interconnections, and attributes is applied. The extension of Linked Building Product Data and its core for geometry descriptions is realised via the novel Ontology for Managing Geometry (OMG). A third ontology, the Ontology for Parametric Systems (OPS) is created to establish interconnections between multiple ontologies on the example of parametric product descriptions.
Due to its flexibility, Linked Building Product Data allows manufacturers to model and offer their products, while users can filter required information for individual use cases. With Linked Building Product Data and Linked Building Data, error-prone file-based data exchange can be renounced by Linked Data methods. Consequently, a common, machine-understandable data source based on Linked Building (Product) Data can serve as anchor for heterogeneous software applications.