Linked Data in Architecture and Construction

The Special Issue of Automation in Construction is about why and how to use the Web of Data technologies (RDF, OWL) for building information management (BIM). The article by Radulovic and colleagues, Guidelines for Linked Data Generation and Publication: an Example in Building Energy Consumption, focuses on making a set of guidelines available regarding the proper generation and publication of linked data, aiming specifically at the context of energy consumption in buildings. The article by Terkaj and Sojic, Ontology-based Representation of IFC EXPRESS rules: an enhancement of the ifcOWL ontology, gives a detailed indication of how the recent actions towards the development of an OWL version of the IFC schema can be extended to consider IFC EXPRESS rules. Costa and Madrazo combine both types of information in their article, named Connecting building component catalogues with BIM models using semantic technologies: an application case for precast concrete components, aiming to assist the design team in the assembly and dimensioning of structural components during the project phase. The third article included in this Special Issue is presented by Corry and colleagues, entitled, A performance assessment ontology for the environmental and energy management of buildings. In this article, an investigation is made of the ways in which semantic web technologies can be used to combine all sorts of energy-related data in buildings, so that the performance gap between measured and simulated energy performance level of a building can be made to increase.