Infrastructure Data Alignment with BIS Conceptual Schema
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing infrastructure modeling applications use disjointed technologies and data formats, leading to data silos, redundancies, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies, making it difficult to create a unified digital twin of real-world infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
The techniques involve aligning source infrastructure data with a conceptual schema, such as the Built Infrastructure Schema (BIS), using source-format-specific bridge software processes that read and interpret source data, transforming it into a unified digital description compatible with the conceptual schema.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional converters are used to translate data between formats, then data can be read by other applications, but the converted data cannot be meaningfully understood or combined with other data since the meaning is implicit and not expressed in the storage format
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a semantic schema as an intermediary layer between source data and target applications. This schema explicitly captures the meaning and semantics of infrastructure data through conceptual models, allowing data to be translated while preserving its semantic meaning. The schema acts as a mediator that enables both data interchangeability and meaningful interpretation across different applications and formats.
2Productivity
If a unified digital description of infrastructure is created, then data redundancies and inconsistencies are reduced, but existing applications using disjoint technologies and data formats cannot be easily integrated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the integration problem into two independent layers: a unified semantic schema layer that defines the conceptual model, and multiple format-specific adapter layers that handle individual data formats. This segmentation allows the unified description to be achieved without requiring all existing applications to change, as each can continue using its native format while being mapped to the unified schema through its specific adapter.
Solution Approach 2:
The semantic schema serves as a universal interface that can work with multiple different source formats through format-specific adapters. This multi-functionality allows the unified digital description to integrate with existing diverse applications without requiring each application to adopt a new format, thereby reducing integration complexity while maintaining productivity benefits.
3Ease of operation
If infrastructure data is maintained in disjointed formats optimized for particular use cases, then each application can function effectively, but data silos and disconnected workflows are created across different phases of infrastructure projects
Solution Approach 1:
The semantic schema acts as an intermediary that connects disjointed application-specific data formats while preserving their individual functionality. Each application can continue to operate with its optimized format, but the schema captures the broader infrastructure context and relationships that span across phases and disciplines, preventing information loss about the overall infrastructure system.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, techniques are provided for aligning source infrastructure data to be compatible with a conceptual schema (e.g., BIS) implemented through an underlying database schema (e.g., DgnDb). Data aligned according to the conceptual schema may serve as a “digital twin” of real-world infrastructure usable throughout various phases of an infrastructure project, with physical information serving as a “backbone”, and non-physical information maintained relative thereto, forming a cohesive whole, while avoiding unwanted data redundancies. Source-format-specific bridge software processes may be provided that that know how to read and interpret source data of a respective source format, and express it in terms of the conceptual schema. The aligned data may be sent to an update agent that interprets the aligned data and computes a changeset therefrom, which may be stored for eventual application to a particular instance of a database maintained according to an underlying database schema of the conceptual schema.