A Shared Ontology for Logistics Information Management in the Construction Industry

Abstract

Logistics management plays an essential role in supporting the primary activities in manufacturing industries. Similarly, in the construction industry, logistics operations are a crucial part that directly influence the construction operations. Construction operations management requires various stakeholders to collaborate through effective communication and prompt information sharing. However, logistics management in construction is often challenged by insufficient information management, lack of formalized information standards and poor information interoperability among heterogeneous systems. Semantic Web technologies advance information management support and improve information interoperability. In this research, we present a domain-level ontology as a common information reference for standardizing and integrating construction logistics information, and finally to improve the efficiency and transparency of logistics information management. The proposed ontology provides information interoperability between logistics management and construction workflow management. The ontology was evaluated by automatic consistency checking and answering the competency questions (CQs) via SPARQL queries. Furthermore, we used actual schedule and material delivery data of a construction project to evaluate the proposed ontology to see if it could support the material kitting logistics practice. We provide a valid ontology that is able support the logistics information management for the construction. The research is limited to providing a single example application of the ontology. Future research should focus on extending the ontology for different specific solutions to yield standardized information management for construction operations.