Information container for linked document delivery - Exchange specification - Part 1: Container (ISO 21597-1:2020)

This document defines an open and stable container format to exchange files of a heterogeneous nature
to deliver, store and archive documents that describe an asset throughout its entire lifecycle.
It is suitable for all parties dealing with information concerning the built environment, where there is
a need to exchange multiple documents and their interrelationships, either as part of the process or
as contracted deliverables. The format is intended to use resources either included in the container
(such as documents) or referenced remotely (such as web resources). A key feature is that the container
can include information about the relationships between the documents. Relevant use-cases reflect the
need for information exchange during the entire life cycle of any built asset and can include, but are not
limited to, the handover of
1. a published bidding package,
2. required project deliverables at a specific project stage (e.g. when proposing different design
scenarios),
3. shared information as background or for further development,
4. published approval packages, or
5. information about versions between partners to provide a means to reference particular states of
the information and track changes.

Informationscontainer zur Datenübergabe - Austausch-Spezifikation - Teil 1: Container (ISO 21597-1:2020)

Dieses Dokument definiert ein offenes und stabiles Containerformat für den Austausch von ansonsten nicht zusammenhängenden Dateien, um Dokumente, die einen Vermögensgegenstand während seines gesamten Lebenszyklus beschreiben, zu liefern, zu speichern und zu archivieren.
Es ist für alle Beteiligten geeignet, die sich mit Informationen befassen, die die gebaute Umwelt betreffen, wenn die Notwendigkeit besteht, mehrere Dokumente und ihre inneren Bezüge entweder als Teil des Prozesses oder als vertraglich vereinbarte Ergebnisse auszutauschen. Das Format ist dafür vorgesehen, Ressourcen zu verwenden, die entweder im Container enthalten sind (wie z. B. Dokumente) oder auf die extern verwiesen wird (wie z. B. Web Ressourcen). Ein Hauptmerkmal besteht darin, dass der Container Informationen über die Beziehungen zwischen den Dokumenten enthalten kann. Die relevanten Anwendungsfälle spiegeln den Bedarf für den Informationsaustausch während des gesamten Lebenszyklus eines baulichen Assets wider. Sie können nachfolgend genannte Informationsbereitstellung einschließen, sind jedoch nicht allein darauf beschränkt:
1) Übergabe eines veröffentlichten Ausschreibungspakets;
2) Übergabe geforderter Projektergebnisse in einer bestimmten Projektphase (z. B. wenn verschiedene Planungsvarianten vorgeschlagen werden);
3) Übergabe gemeinsamer Informationen als Grundlage oder für die weitere Entwicklung;
4) Übergabe veröffentlichter Genehmigungspakete; oder
5) Übergabe von Informationen zu Versionen zwischen Partnern, als Mittel für die Referenzierung bestimmter Informationsstände und für die Nachverfolgung von Änderungen.

Conteneur d'informations pour la livraison de documents liés - Spécification d'échange - Partie 1: Conteneur (ISO 21597-1:2020)

Le présent document définit un format de conteneur ouvert et fiable permettant d'échanger des fichiers de nature hétérogène afin de livrer, de stocker et d'archiver des documents qui décrivent un bien tout au long de son cycle de vie.
Il est adapté à toutes les parties traitant d'informations relatives à l'environnement bâti, lorsqu'il est nécessaire d'échanger plusieurs documents et leurs relations mutuelles, soit dans le cadre d'un processus, soit en tant que livrables sous contrat. Le format est destiné à utiliser des ressources soit intégrées dans le conteneur (telles que des documents), soit référencées à distance (telles que des ressources Web). La possibilité d'inclure dans le conteneur des informations sur les relations entre les documents le composant, constitue une caractéristique majeure. Les cas d'utilisations pertinents témoignent de la nécessité d'échanger des informations tout au long du cycle de vie des biens bâtis et peuvent inclure, de manière non exhaustive, le transfert:
- d'un dossier d'appel d'offres publié;
- de livrables exigés à une étape spécifique d'un projet (p. ex. lors de la proposition de différents scénarios de conception);
- d'informations à caractère général partagées ou destinées à un développement futur;
- de dossiers d'approbation publiés; ou
- d'informations sur les versions entre les partenaires pour fournir un moyen de référencer des états particuliers de l'information et le suivi des modifications.

Informacijski vsebnik za izročitev povezanih dokumentov - Specifikacija za izmenjavo - 1. del: Vsebnik (ISO 21597-1:2020)

General Information

Status
Published
Public Enquiry End Date
27-Nov-2018
Publication Date
22-Jun-2020
Current Stage
6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
Start Date
14-May-2020
Due Date
19-Jul-2020
Completion Date
23-Jun-2020

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Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
01-julij-2020
Informacijski vsebnik za izročitev povezanih dokumentov - Specifikacija za
izmenjavo - 1. del: Vsebnik (ISO 21597-1:2020)
Information container for linked document delivery - Exchange specification - Part 1:
Container (ISO 21597-1:2020)
Informationscontainer zur Datenübergabe - Austausch-Spezifikation - Teil 1: Container
(ISO 21597-1:2020)
Conteneur d'informations pour la livraison de documents liés - Spécification d'échange -
Partie 1: Conteneur (ISO 21597-1:2020)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN ISO 21597-1:2020
ICS:
35.240.67 Uporabniške rešitve IT v IT applications in building
gradbeništvu and construction industry
91.010.01 Gradbeništvo na splošno Construction industry in
general
SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020


EN ISO 21597-1
EUROPEAN STANDARD

NORME EUROPÉENNE

April 2020
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 35.240.67; 91.010.01
English Version

Information container for linked document delivery -
Exchange specification - Part 1: Container (ISO 21597-
1:2020)
Conteneur d'informations pour la livraison de Informationscontainer zur Datenübergabe - Austausch-
documents liés - Spécification d'échange - Partie 1: Spezifikation - Teil 1: Container (ISO 21597-1:2020)
Conteneur (ISO 21597-1:2020)
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 20 April 2020.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this
European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by
translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management
Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and
United Kingdom.





EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2020 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN ISO 21597-1:2020 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
EN ISO 21597-1:2020 (E)
Contents Page
European foreword . 3

2

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
EN ISO 21597-1:2020 (E)
European foreword
This document (EN ISO 21597-1:2020) has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 59
"Buildings and civil engineering works" in collaboration with Technical Committee CEN/TC 442
“Building Information Modelling (BIM)” the secretariat of which is held by SN.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by October 2020, and conflicting national standards shall
be withdrawn at the latest by October 2020.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of
North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the
United Kingdom.
Endorsement notice
The text of ISO 21597-1:2020 has been approved by CEN as EN ISO 21597-1:2020 without any
modification.

3

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 21597-1
First edition
2020-04
Information container for linked
document delivery — Exchange
specification —
Part 1:
Container
Conteneur d'informations pour la livraison de documents liés —
Spécification d'échange —
Partie 1: Conteneur
Reference number
ISO 21597-1:2020(E)
©
ISO 2020

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
ISO 21597-1:2020(E)

COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO 2020
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Fax: +41 22 749 09 47
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
ISO 21597-1:2020(E)

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3  Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms . 2
3.1 Terms and definitions . 2
3.2 Abbreviated Terms . 5
4  Specifications . 5
4.1 Use of RDF, RDFS and OWL constructs. 5
4.2 Symbols and notations . 7
4.3 Container structure .10
4.3.1 Overview .10
4.3.2 “Ontology resources” folder .11
4.3.3 “Payload documents” folder .11
4.3.4 “Payload triples” folder .11
4.4 Ontologies and datasets .12
4.4.1 Overview .12
4.4.2 Container ontology .12
4.4.3 Linkset ontology .16
4.4.4 Index dataset .20
4.4.5 Link dataset .20
4.5 Versioning.20
4.6 Additional properties in datasets .22
5 Conformance requirements .22
Annex A (informative) Use cases.24
Annex B (informative) Dublin Core interoperability .35
Annex C (informative) Bidirectional conversion of the ICDD container representation from
RDF(S)/OWL to XSD/XML .36
Annex D (informative) How to validate with SHACL .37
Annex E (normative) Ontologies .40
Bibliography .41
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved iii

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
ISO 21597-1:2020(E)

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 59, Buildings and civil engineering works,
Subcommittee SC 13, Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering
works, including building information modelling (BIM), in collaboration with the European Committee
for Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/TC 442, Building Information Modelling (BIM), in
accordance with the Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement).
A list of all parts in the ISO 21597 series can be found on the ISO website.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
iv © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
ISO 21597-1:2020(E)

Introduction
The ISO 21597 series has been developed in response to a recognized need within the construction
industry to be able to handle multiple documents as one information delivery.
Information deliveries are often a combination of drawings, information models (representing built
or natural assets in the physical world), text documents, spreadsheets, photos, videos, audiofiles, etc.
Increasingly, this may also include datasets based on any ontology. An ability to specify relationships
using links between information elements in those separate documents can contribute significantly
to the value of an information delivery. The composition of such a package arises both from the
requirements of the process, e.g. delivery of as-built information, and from the specific functional
purpose e.g. performing a quantity take-off or communication about issues in 3D models.
In this document a specification is given for a container that stores documents, along with a means of
linking otherwise disconnected data within those documents.
The container format includes a header file and optional link files that define relationships by including
references to the documents, or to elements within them. The header file uniquely identifies the
container and its contractual or collaborative intention. This information is defined using the RDF,
RDFS and OWL semantic web standards.
The header file, along with any additional RDF(S)/OWL files or resources, forms a suite that may be
directly queried by software. The link references may be interpreted by the recipient applications or
reviewed interactively by the recipient. Where it includes link references into the content of documents
that don’t support standardized querying mechanisms, their resolution may depend on third party
interpreters.
The format can also be used to deliver multiple versions of the same document.
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved v

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 21597-1:2020(E)
Information container for linked document delivery —
Exchange specification —
Part 1:
Container
IMPORTANT — The electronic file of this document contains colours which are considered to be
useful for the correct understanding of the document. Users should therefore consider printing
this document using a colour printer.
1 Scope
This document defines an open and stable container format to exchange files of a heterogeneous nature
to deliver, store and archive documents that describe an asset throughout its entire lifecycle.
It is suitable for all parties dealing with information concerning the built environment, where there is
a need to exchange multiple documents and their interrelationships, either as part of the process or
as contracted deliverables. The format is intended to use resources either included in the container
(such as documents) or referenced remotely (such as web resources). A key feature is that the container
can include information about the relationships between the documents. Relevant use-cases reflect the
need for information exchange during the entire life cycle of any built asset and can include, but are not
limited to, the handover of
1. a published bidding package,
2. required project deliverables at a specific project stage (e.g. when proposing different design
scenarios),
3. shared information as background or for further development,
4. published approval packages, or
5. information about versions between partners to provide a means to reference particular states of
the information and track changes.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 21320-1, Information technology — Document Container File — Part 1: Core.
IANA. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority Media Types. [viewed 6 May 2019]. Available from:
https:// www .iana .org/ assignments/ media -types/ media -types .xhtml
W3C-OWL2-SPEC. Motik B., Patel-Schneider P.F., Parsia B. eds. OWL 2 Web Ontology Language:
Structural Specification and Functional-Style Syntax (Second Edition). W3C Recommendation, 11
December 2012 [viewed July 22nd 2019]. Latest version available at http:// www .w3 .org/ TR/ owl2
-syntax/
W3C-RDF11-CONCEPTS. Cyganiak R., Wood D., Lanthaler M. RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax.
W3C Recommendation, 25 February 2014 [viewed July 22nd 2019]. Latest version available at http://
www .w3 .org/ TR/ rdf11 -concepts/
© ISO 2020 – All rights reserved 1

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SIST EN ISO 21597-1:2020
ISO 21597-1:2020(E)

W3C-RDF11-SCHEMA. Brickley D., Guha R.V. RDF Schema 1.1. W3C Recommendation, 25 February
2014 [viewed July 22nd 2019]. Latest version available at http:// www .w3 .org/ TR/ rdf -schema/
W3C-RDF11-XML. Gandon F., Schreiber G. RDF 1.1 XML Syntax. W3C Recommendation, 25 February
2014 [viewed July 22nd 2019]. Latest version available at http:// www .w3 .org/ TR/ rdf -syntax -grammar/
W3C-XML-DATATYPES. Peterson D., Gao S., Malhotra A., Sperberg-McQueen C.M., Thompson
H.S. eds. (Version 1.1) and Biron P.V., Malhotra A. eds. (Version 1.0). W3C XML Schema Definition
Language (XSD) 1.1 Part 2: Datatypes. W3C Recommendation, 5 April 2012 [viewed July 22nd 2019].
Latest version available at http:// www .w3 .org/ TR/ xmlschema11 -2/
3  Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1  Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1.1
container
file that conforms to the ISO 21597 series
3.1.2
payload
primary information in the form of documents (3.1.3) that is included within the container (3.1.1)
Note 1 to entry: This does not include the header file (Index.rdf) or the ontology (3.1.7) resource (3.1.14) files.
3.1.3
document
fixed and structured amount of information that can be managed and interchanged as a unit between
users and systems
Note 1 to entry: This unit may not necessarily be human perceptible. Information is usually stored on a data medium.
Note 2 to entry: Used in the ISO 21597 series to refer to any document that forms part of the payload (3.1.2) in the
container, including any 2D or 3D models that represent built or natural assets in the physical world; these may
be held in any standard or proprietary format.
3.1.4
internal document
document (3.1.3) located within the container (3.1.1)
3.1.5
external document
document (3.1.3) located outside the container (3.1.1)
3.1.6
link
relation between documents (3.1.3), including between elements in documents
2 © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

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ISO 21597-1:2020(E)

3.1.7
ontology
specification of concrete or abstract things, and the relationships among them, in a prescribed domain
of knowledge
Note 1 to entry: The specification should be computer processable.
Note 2 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-OWL2-SPEC.
3.1.8
container ontology
RDF(S)/OWL file providing the object (3.1.23) classes (3.1.15) and properties that shall be used to
specify the contents of a container (3.1.1)
3.1.9
linkset ontology
RDF(S)/OWL file providing the object (3.1.23) classes (3.1.15) and properties that shall be used to
specify links (3.1.6) between documents (3.1.3) in a container (3.1.1)
3.1.10
dataset
RDF(S)/OWL file that contains individuals (3.1.16) that comply with the classes (3.1.15) as specified by
ontologies (3.1.7)
3.1.11
index dataset
RDF(S)/OWL file containing an index of the contents of the container (3.1.1)
3.1.12
link dataset
RDF(S)/OWL file containing links (3.1.6) as defined in the ISO 21597 series
3.1.13
serialisation
encoding of an ontology (3.1.7) or dataset (3.1.10) into a format that can be stored, typically in a file
Note 1 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-XML.
3.1.14
resource
something in the world (the "universe of discourse") denoted by an IRI or literal
Note 1 to entry: Anything can be a resource, including physical things, documents (3.1.3), abstract concepts,
numbers and strings; the term is synonymous with "entity" as it is used in the RDF Semantics specification.
Note 2 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-CONCEPTS.
3.1.15
class
set of individuals (3.1.16) having the same characteristics
Note 1 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-SCHEMA, 2.2.
3.1.16
individual
resource (3.1.14) that has been placed into any RDFS class (3.1.15) as an instance of that class
Note 1 to entry: Like RDF classes, every OWL class is associated with a set of individuals, called the class
extension; the individuals in the class extension are the instances of the class.
Note 2 to entry: There are two types of individuals in the syntax of OWL 2. Named individuals are given an
explicit name that can be used in any ontology (3.1.7) to refer to the same object (3.1.23). Anonymous individuals
do not have a global name and are thus local to the ontology in which they are contained.
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Note 3 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-OWL2-SPEC, 5.6.
3.1.17
object property
OWL property that links individuals (3.1.16) to other individuals
Note 1 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-OWL2-SPEC, 5.3.
3.1.18
datatype property
OWL property that can relate individuals (3.1.16) to literals
Note 1 to entry: Literals can be strings, numbers, date types, etc.
Note 2 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-OWL2-SPEC, 5.4.
3.1.19
namespace
group of identifiers for elements and attributes that are collectively bound to a URI such that their use
will not cause naming conflicts
Note 1 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-CONCEPTS, 1.
3.1.20
triple
statement in the form subject-predicate-object (3.1.21, 3.1.22, 3.1.23) that expresses a relationship
between two resources (3.1.14)
Note 1 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-CONCEPTS, 3.1.
3.1.21
subject
resource (3.1.14) (an IRI) about which a statement is made in the form of an RDF triple (3.1.20)
Note 1 to entry: This term, as used in the ISO 21597 series, is part of the RDF(S)/OWL vocabulary, where each
triple consists of a subject, a predicate (3.1.22) and an object (3.1.23); a set of such triples is called an RDF graph.
Note 2 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-SCHEMA, 5.3.2.
3.1.22
predicate
the relationship between a subject (3.1.21) and an object (3.1.23) in an RDF triple (3.1.20), also called a
property
Note 1 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-SCHEMA, 5.3.3.
3.1.23
object
resource (3.1.14) (either an IRI or a literal) assigned as the specified property of the subject (3.1.21) in a
triple (3.1.20)
Note 1 to entry: This term, as used in the ISO 21597 series, is part of the RDF(S)/OWL vocabulary, where each
triple consists of a subject, a predicate (3.1.22) and an object; a set of such triples is called an RDF graph.
Note 2 to entry: The definition is adapted from W3C-RDF11-SCHEMA, 5.3.4.
4 © ISO 2020 – All rights reserved

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3.2  Abbreviated Terms
DBF DataBase File
GIS Geographic Information System
GML Geography Markup Language
GUID Globally Unique Identifier
ICDD Information Container for linked Document delivery
IFC Industry Foundation Classes
IRI Internationalized Resource Identifier
OWL Web Ontology Language
RDF Resource Description Framework
RDFS Resource Description Framework Schema
SHACL Shapes Constraint Language
SPARQL Simple Protocol And RDF Query Language
SQL Structured Query Language
UML Unified Modeling Language
URI Uniform Resource Identifier
URL Uniform Resource Locator
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
XML eXtensible Markup Language
XSD XML Schema Definition
XSLT Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations
NOTE IRI is an update of the URI released in 2005; while URIs are limited to a subset of the ASCII character set,
IRIs can contain characters from the Universal Character Set (Unicode/ISO/IEC 10646). In the ISO 21597 series
URIs and IRIs are used interchangeably.
4  Specifications
4.1 Use of RDF, RDFS and OWL constructs
All ontologies held in containers that conform to the ISO 21597 series shall be based on the languages
RDF [W3C-RDF11-CONCEPTS], RDFS [W3C-RDF11-SCHEMA] and OWL [W3C-OWL2-SPEC] (referred to
collectively in the ISO 21597 series as RDF(S)/OWL) and shall be serialized in RDF/XML [W3C-RDF11-
XML] or any other equivalent RDF serialisation recommended by W3C.
It is expected that RDF(S)/OWL will be an important technology and a general platform for ontologies
for the coming decades. Proprietary systems will increasingly adopt RDF(S)/OWL. However, to make
the threshold for adoption of this document as low as possible, Annex C provides specifications to
support the conversion of a container from RDF(S)/OWL to XSD/XML and vice versa.
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In general, when used in the context of the world wide web, these languages use the following principles
to support reasoning:
— Open world assumption - the truth of a statement is independent of whether it is known. In other
words, not knowing that a statement is explicitly true does not imply that the statement is false.
— No unique names assumption - unless explicitly stated otherwise, it cannot be assumed that
resources that are identified by different URIs are different.
The datasets that comply with the ontologies specified in the ISO 21597 series shall use the following
interpretation of RDF(S)/OWL:
— Closed world assumption - a statement that is true is also known to be true; therefore, conversely,
what is not formally specified in a container to be true, is false.
— Unique naming assumption - resources in a container that are identified with different URIs are
considered to be different, unless explicitly declared as the same (using the owl: sameAs predicate).
Table 1 lists the RDF(S)/OWL constructs that are used in the ISO 21597 series and the interpretation to
be used when
...

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
oSIST prEN ISO 21597-1:2018
01-november-2018
,QIRUPDFLMVNLYVHEQLN]DL]URþLWHYSRGDWNRY6SHFLILNDFLMD]DL]PHQMDYRGHO
9VHEQLN ,62',6
Information container for data drop - Exchange specificaton - Part 1: Container (ISO/DIS
21597-1:2018)
Organisation von Daten zu Bauwerken - Informationscontainer zur Datenübergabe
(ICDD) - Teil 1: Container (ISO/DIS 21597-1:2018)
Organisation de l'information concernant les travaux de construction -- Conteneur
d'information pour extraction de données (ICDD) -- Partie 1: Titre manque (ISO/DIS
21597-1:2018)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN ISO 21597-1
ICS:
35.240.67 Uporabniške rešitve IT v IT applications in building
gradbeništvu and construction industry
91.010.01 Gradbeništvo na splošno Construction industry in
general
oSIST prEN ISO 21597-1:2018 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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oSIST prEN ISO 21597-1:2018
DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD
ISO/DIS 21597-1
ISO/TC 59/SC 13 Secretariat: SN
Voting begins on: Voting terminates on:
2018-09-07 2018-11-30
Information container for data drop — Exchange
specificaton —
Part 1:
Container
Titre manque —
Partie 1: Titre manque
ICS: 35.240.67; 91.010.01
THIS DOCUMENT IS A DRAFT CIRCULATED
This document is circulated as received from the committee secretariat.
FOR COMMENT AND APPROVAL. IT IS
THEREFORE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND MAY
NOT BE REFERRED TO AS AN INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD UNTIL PUBLISHED AS SUCH.
IN ADDITION TO THEIR EVALUATION AS
ISO/CEN PARALLEL PROCESSING
BEING ACCEPTABLE FOR INDUSTRIAL,
TECHNOLOGICAL, COMMERCIAL AND
USER PURPOSES, DRAFT INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS MAY ON OCCASION HAVE TO
BE CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THEIR
POTENTIAL TO BECOME STANDARDS TO
WHICH REFERENCE MAY BE MADE IN
Reference number
NATIONAL REGULATIONS.
ISO/DIS 21597-1:2018(E)
RECIPIENTS OF THIS DRAFT ARE INVITED
TO SUBMIT, WITH THEIR COMMENTS,
NOTIFICATION OF ANY RELEVANT PATENT
RIGHTS OF WHICH THEY ARE AWARE AND TO
©
PROVIDE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION. ISO 2018

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ISO 21597-1:2019
ISO/DIS 21597-1:2018(E)

Contents
Contents 2
Foreword 4
Introduction 5
1 Scope 6
2 Normative references 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms 7
3.1 Terms and definitions 7
3.2 Abbreviated Terms 9
4 Specifications 11
4.1 Use of RDF, RDFS and OWL constructs 11
4.2 Symbols and notation 13
4.3 Container structure 16
4.3.1 Overview 16
4.3.2 Ontology resources folder 17
4.3.3 Payload documents folder 17
4.3.4 Payload triples folder 17
4.4 Ontologies and datasets 18
4.4.1 Overview 18
4.4.2 Container ontology 18
4.4.3 Linkset ontology 23
4.4.4 Index dataset 28
4.4.5 Link dataset 28
4.5 Versioning 28
4.6 Additional properties in datasets 30
5. Conformance requirements 30
Annex A (informative) Use cases 32
A.1 Context 32
A.2 Use case 1A – Data drop of documents 32
A.3 Use case 1B – Data drop of documents with links 38
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
Annex B (informative) Dublin Core interoperability 45
© ISO 2018
Annex C (Informative) How to convert ICDD RDF to XML and back 46
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
Annex D (Informative) How to validate with SHACL 47
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
D.1 Schema validation 47
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office D.1.1 Detecting extra classes 47
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
D.1.2 Detecting extra predicates 48
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
D.2 Data validation 49
Fax: +41 22 749 09 47
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
2
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ISO/DIS 21597-1:2018(E)
ISO 21597-1:2019
Contents
Contents 2
Foreword 4
Introduction 5
1 Scope 6
2 Normative references 6
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms 7
3.1 Terms and definitions 7
3.2 Abbreviated Terms 9
4 Specifications 11
4.1 Use of RDF, RDFS and OWL constructs 11
4.2 Symbols and notation 13
4.3 Container structure 16
4.3.1 Overview 16
4.3.2 Ontology resources folder 17
4.3.3 Payload documents folder 17
4.3.4 Payload triples folder 17
4.4 Ontologies and datasets 18
4.4.1 Overview 18
4.4.2 Container ontology 18
4.4.3 Linkset ontology 23
4.4.4 Index dataset 28
4.4.5 Link dataset 28
4.5 Versioning 28
4.6 Additional properties in datasets 30
5. Conformance requirements 30
Annex A (informative) Use cases 32
A.1 Context 32
A.2 Use case 1A – Data drop of documents 32
A.3 Use case 1B – Data drop of documents with links 38
Annex B (informative) Dublin Core interoperability 45
Annex C (Informative) How to convert ICDD RDF to XML and back 46
Annex D (Informative) How to validate with SHACL 47
D.1 Schema validation 47
D.1.1 Detecting extra classes 47
D.1.2 Detecting extra predicates 48
D.2 Data validation 49
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D.2.1 Datatype checks 49
D.2.2 owl:cardinality as constraints based upon Unique Naming Assumption 50
D.2.3 owl:unionOf predicate as a constraint 50
Annex E (normative) Ontologies 51
E.1 Container ontology 51
E.2 Linkset ontology 59
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Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national
standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is
normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a
subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on
that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison
with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance
are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria
needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in
accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see
www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the
subject of patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in
the Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see
www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and
does not constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade Organization
(WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL:
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 59, Buildings and civil engineering
works, Subcommittee SC 13, Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil
engineering works, including building infromation modelling (BIM).
ISO 21597 consists of the following parts, under the general title Information Container for Data
Drop – Exchange specification:
— Part 1: Container
— Part 2: Dynamic semantics



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Introduction
This standard has been developed in response to the need of the construction industry to handle
multiple documents as one information delivery or data drop.
Information deliveries are often a combination of drawings, information models (representing
built or natural assets in the physical world), text documents, spreadsheets, etc. The ability to
specify relationships between information elements in those separate documents can contribute
significantly to the value of a data drop. The composition of such a package arises both from the
requirements in the process, e.g. delivery of as-built information, and from the specific
functional purpose e.g. performing a quantity take-off or communication about issues in 3D
models.
This standard provides a specification for an information container. It enables a uniform
approach to the way information is organised in data drops, providing a means to create
semantic links between concepts in separate documents; it also provides a basis for additional
functionality that allows a container to be customised for a given purpose, facilitating innovative
software development that that still conforms to the standard.
In Part 1 of this standard, a specification is given for a container that stores documents, along
with a means of linking otherwise disconnected data within those documents.
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Information container for data drop - Exchange specification -
Part 1: Container
1 Scope
This standard defines a generic container format to store a delivered set of documents, including
a means to link otherwise disconnected data. In this context, the term document refers to any
digital resource that provides information about the built or natural environment, including, but
not limited to, any 2D or 3D representation or model, spreadsheet, image or text-based digital
resource.
This standard is suitable for all parties dealing with information concerning the built
environment, where there is a need to exchange multiple documents and their
interrelationships, either as part of the process or as contracted deliverables. The format is
intended to use resources either included in the container (such as documents) or referenced
remotely (such as web resources). A key feature is that the container can include information
about the relationships between the documents. Relevant use-cases reflect the need for
information exchange during the entire life cycle of any built asset and may include, but is not
limited to, the handover of
1. a published bidding package,
2. required project deliverables at a specific project stage,
3. shared information as background or for further development, or
4. published approval packages.
The container format includes a header file and optional link files that define relationships by
including references to the documents, or to elements within them. The header file uniquely
identifies the container and its contractual or collaborative intention. This information is defined
using the RDF and OWL semantic web standards.
The header file, along with any additional RDF/OWL files or resources, forms a suite that may be
directly queried by software. Where it includes link references into the content of documents
that don’t support standardized querying mechanisms, their resolution may depend on third
party interpreters. Alternatively, the link references may be interpreted by the recipient
applications, or reviewed interactively by the recipient.
The format can also be used to deliver multiple versions of the same document with the ability
to convey the known differences or priority between them.

2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their
content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited
applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 21320-1:2015, Information technology — Document Container File — Part 1: Core
http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html
ISO 6707-1, Buildings and civil engineering works — Vocabulary — Part 1: General terms
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W3C RDF standard, Resource Description Framework,
https://www.w3.org/standards/techs/rdf#w3c_all
RDF Schema 1.1 - W3C Recommendation 25 February 2014
https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/
W3C OWL, Web Ontology Language, https://www.w3.org/TR/2012/REC-owl2-syntax-20121211/
W3C XML, Schema Part 2: Datatypes, http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-2/


3 Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purpose of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
- ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
- IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/.
3.1.1
class
group of resources (either an IRI or a literal) having the same characteristics
3.1.2
container
file that conforms to this standard
3.1.3
container ontology
RDF/OWL file providing the object classes and properties that shall be used to specify the
contents of a container
3.1.4
dataset
RDF/OWL file that contains individuals that comply with the classes as specified by the
ontologies in the Ontology resources folder
3.1.5
datatype property
OWL property that can relate individuals to literals (e.g. strings, numbers, date types, etc.)
3.1.6
document
fixed and structured amount of information that can be managed and interchanged as a unit
between users and systems
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Note 1 to entry: This unit may not necessarily be human perceptible. Information is usually stored on a
data medium.
Note 2 to entry: Used in this standard to refer to any document that forms part of the payload in the
container, including any 2D or 3D models that represent built or natural assets in the physical world;
these may be held in any standard or proprietary format.
3.1.7
external document
document located outside the container
3.1.8
index dataset
RDF/OWL file containing an index of the contents of the container
3.1.9
individual
resource that has been placed into an RDF class as an instance of that class
Note to entry: like RDF classes, every OWL class is associated with a set of individuals, called the class
extension; the individuals in the class extension are the instances of the class.
[SOURCE: https://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/]
3.1.10
internal document
document located within the container
3.1.11
link
relation between documents, including between elements in documents
3.1.12
link dataset
RDF/OWL file containing links as defined in this standard
3.1.13
linkset ontology
RDF/OWL file providing the object classes and properties that shall be used to specify links
between documents in a container
3.1.14
namespace
group of identifiers for elements and attributes that are collectively bound to a URI such that
their use will not cause naming conflicts
3.1.15
object
resource (either an IRI or a literal) assigned as the specified property of the subject in a triple
Note to entry: This term, as used in this standard, is part of the RDF/OWL vocabulary, where each triple
consists of a subject, a predicate and an object; a set of such triples is called an RDF graph.
3.1.16
object property
OWL property that links individuals to other individuals
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3.1.17
ontology
specification of concrete or abstract things, and the relationships among them, in a prescribed
domain of knowledge
Note to entry: The specification should be computer processable.
[ISO/IEC 19763-3:2010, 3.1.1.1]
3.1.18
payload
primary information (in the form of documents and datasets) that is included within the
container
Note to entry: this does not include the header file (Index.rdf) or the ontology resource files.
3.1.19
predicate
denotes the relationship between a subject and and an object in an RDF triple, also called a
property.
3.1.20
serialisation
file in a particular format that encodes an ontology or dataset
3.1.21
subject
resource (either an IRI or a literal) about which a statement is made in the form of an RDF triple
Note to entry: This term, as used in this standard, is part of the RDF/OWL vocabulary, where each triple
consists of a subject, a predicate and an object; a set of such triples is called an RDF graph.
3.1.22
triple
statement in the form subject-predicate-object that expresses a relationship between two
resources
3.2 Abbreviated Terms
The following abbreviated terms are used in this document:
DBF   DataBase File
GIS   Geographic Information System
GML  Geography Markup Language
GUID Globally Unique Identifier
ICDD Information Container for Data Drop
IFC    Industry Foundation Classes
IRI* Internationalized Resource Identifier
OWL Web Ontology Language
RDF Resource Description Framework
RDFS  Resource Description Framework Schema
SHACL Shapes Constraint Language
SPARQL SPARQL Protocol And RDF Query Language
SQL   Structured Query Language
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UML  Unified Modeling Language
URI* Uniform Resource Identifier
URL Uniform Resource Locator
W3C  World Wide Web Consortium
XML  eXtensible Markup Language
XSD   XML Schema Definition
XSLT  Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations

NOTE: * IRI is an update of the URI released in 2005. URIs are limited to a subset of the ASCII character.
IRIs may contain characters from the Universal Character Set (Unicode/ISO 10646). In this document URIs
and IRIs are both used interchangeably with restrict to the above.

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4 Specifications
4.1 Use of RDF, RDFS and OWL constructs
The ontologies specified in this standard use the languages RDF [https://www.w3.org/RDF/],
RDFS [https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/] and OWL [https://www.w3.org/OWL/].
NOTE: It is expected that RDF/OWL will be an important technology and a general platform for Ontologies
for the coming decades. Proprietary systems will increasingly adopt RDF/OWL.
In general, when used in the context of the world wide web, these languages use the following
principles to support reasoning:
- Open world assumption - the truth of a statement is independent of whether it is known.
In other words, not knowing that a statement is explicitly true does not imply that the
statement is false;
- No unique names assumption - unless explicitly stated otherwise, it cannot be assumed
that resources that are identified by different URIs are different.
The datasets that comply with the ontologies specified in this standard shall use the following
interpretation of RDF, RDFS and OWL:
- Closed world assumption - a statement that is true is also known to be true; therefore,
conversely, what is not formally specified in a container to be true, is false;
- Unique naming assumption - resources in a container that are identified with different
URIs are considered to be different, unless explicitly declared as the same (using the
owl:sameAs predicate).
Table 1 lists the RDF/OWL constructs that are used in this standard and the interpretation to be
used when validating the contents of a container. It is noted that, once the content of the
container has been validated, the data can be used in an open world context.
Table 1 - Listing of constructs used in this standard and their interpretation
Construct Interpretation
owl:Class In a dataset within a container, class
membership for every individual shall be
explicitly asserted, unless implicitly inferred
using predicates such as rdfs:subClassOf or
owl:equivalentClass.
rdfs:subClassOf This standard does not deviate from the W3C
rdfs:subPropertyOf definitions (https://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-
schema/). Statements that may be inferred
due to rdfs:subClassOf or rdfs:subPropertyOf
statements shall be regarded as true even if
not explicitly asserted.

NOTE: statements where a class is mentioned are
also true for any of its subclasses. Similarly,
statements where a property is mentioned are
also true for any of its sub properties.
rdfs:subClassOf [ Within the context of a container, this
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 rdf:type owl:Class ; construct is interpreted as a restriction,
 owl:unionOf ( making that class abstract, meaning that any
  :X individual of this class must be a member of
  :Y at least one of the classes listed in the
 ) ; owl:unionOf predicate. Where appropriate,
] this is used in conjunction with the
owl:disjointWith predicate to force the
individual to belong to only one of the classes
listed in the owl:unionOf predicate.
owl:FunctionalProperty This standard interprets
owl:FunctionalProperty as a property with a
maximum cardinality of 1
owl:equivalentClass This standard does not deviate from the W3C
definitions (https://www.w3.org/TR/owl-
ref) . Statements that may be inferred due to
owl:equivalentClass statements shall be
regarded as true even if not explicitly
asserted.
owl:disjointWith This standard does not deviate from the
original definition. Since the property is
symmetric it is valid in both directions even if
only one direction is asserted in an ontology.
An individual that is a member of several
classes that are disjoint is invalid.
rdfs:range, rdfs:domain These statements shall be interpreted as
restrictions. It is invalid to have a subject or
object of a statement (triple) in a dataset
were that individual is a member of a class
that does not comply with the rdfs:range or
rdfs:domain declarations of the corresponding
owl:ObjectProperty or owl:DatatypeProperty.
owl:restriction These statements shall be interpreted as
owl:onProperty restrictions. Any deviation from the specified
owl:allValuesFrom restriction within a single container is
owl:someValuesFrom considered invalid.
owl:hasValue
NOTE: as an example, if owl:cardinality is defined
owl:cardinality
as 2, then a dataset that does not contain exactly 2
owl:minCardinality
occurences is not valid.
owl:maxCardinality
owl:inverseOf This standard does not deviate from the
original definition. It is recommended that
inverse properties are not asserted for
individuals in a dataset. If they are asserted,
they shall not contradict the assertions made
in the opposite direction.
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4.2 Symbols and notation
Throughout this standard, the structure of the ontologies is illustrated using a UML notation. The
purpose of this section is to describe that notation and the meaning of the terms and symbols
that are used.
Tables 2 and 3 list the namespaces and corresponding prefixes used in this standard.
Table 2 - Namespaces and prefixes used in ontologies defined in this standard
Ontology Prefix Namespace
http://www.iso-icdd.org/part1/2019/Container
Container ontology ct
http://www.iso-icdd.org/part1/2019/Linkset
Linkset ontology ls

Table 3 - Namespaces and prefixes used in ontologies referenced in this standard
Ontology Prefix Namespace
https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema
XML Schema xsd
https://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns
Resource rdf
Description
Framework
https://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema
RDF Schema rdfs
https://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl
Web Ontology owl
Language

Figure 1 illustrates the UML notations used in this standard to render classes and properties.

Figure 1 - UML notation for classes and properties
A class (owl:Class) is illustrated by a rectangular box with two compartments as shown in Figure
1. In the upper compartment, the class name (“ex:Class” in the figure above) is displayed. Note
that the class name is shown following the pattern “prefix:ClassName”, where the prefix (“ex” in
the example) denotes namespace of the ontology and “ClassName” is the name of the class. The
prefixes actually used in this standard are defined in Table 2 above.
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The lower compartment shows the specified properties for that class. There are two general
types of properties:
● Datatype properties are those for which the value is a data literal, as illustrated for
ex:AnotherClass in Figure 1; and
● Object properties, for which the value is an individual; e.g. ex:Class in Figure 1, where the
property ex:ObjectProperty_1 references an individual of class ex:AnotherClass.
The property definitions are shown according to the pattern “prefix:propertyName :
range[cardinality]”. The range of a datatype property is usually one of the predefined data types
in XML schema (https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-datatypes). The range of an object
property is usually one of the classes occuring in the ontology but may also refer to a class in
another ontology.
If classes on both sides (domain and range) of an object property are visible in a diagram, the
object property may also be illustrated with an (blue) arrow between the classes pointing from
the domain class towards the range class. The name of the object property is displayed along the
arrow as well as in the property compartment of the class box as explained above.
Any cardinality restrictions are displayed within square brackets using the following notation:
[minCardinality.maxCardinality], where minCardinality specifies the minimum allowed
occurrences and maxCardinality specifies the maximum allowed number of occurrences
The cardinality restrictions shall be interpreted in the following fashion:
● omitted - no cardinality restriction exists, i.e. any number of occurrences from zero to
many are allowed;
● maxCardinality omitted (e.g. [0.], [1.] etc) - maximum cardinality is unrestricted.
If two classes are related using an rdfs:subClassOf predicate, this is rendered using an arrow as
shown in Figure 2. This diagram illustrates that ex:SubClass and ex:Class are related using an
rdfs:subClassOf predicate.

Figure 2 - Depiction of a sub-class relationship
Union classes and disjoint classes are illustrated in Figure 3.
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oSIST prEN ISO 21597-1:2018

ISO/DIS 21597-1:2018(E)
ISO 21597-1:2019

Figure 3 - Depiction of Union and Disjoint classes
The red arrow pointing from ex:Class1 to ex:Class2 declares that they are disjoint, meaning that
an instance is not allowed to be a member of both ex:Class1 and ex:Class2. This is declared with
an owl:disjointWith statement (ex:Class1 owl:disjointWith ex:Class2). The owl:disjointWith
property is symmetric, meaning that if Class1 is disjoint with Class2, then Class2 is also disjoint
with Class1.
The union class (union between ex:Class1 and ex:Class2) is illustrated by the grey box with only
one compartment, listing the names of the classes which are members of the union. The
keyword “or” denotes that it is actually a union. If the union class and the classes which are
members of the union are shown in the same diagram, the diagram may also contain arrows
from the union class to its member classes. The entire structure as defined in Figure 3
essentially states that ex:Class is an abstract class and that any instance must be an instance of
either ex:Class1 or ex:Class2.
An intersection class is similarly illustrated by a grey box, but in that case the keyword “or” is
replaced by the keyword “and”.
Two classes which are declared as equivalent by the use of owl:equivalentClass (e.g. ex:Class3
owl:equivalentClass ex:Class4) are depicted as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 - Depiction of equivalent classes
Finally, a class may be both the Domain and Range for a certain ObjectProperty. Such a
relationship is rendered as shown in Figure 5, i.e. with the little arrow aligned to the bottom of
the Class box without any label attached to the arrow.

Figure 5 - Depiction of an ObjectProperty defined by an individual of the same class
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oSIST prEN ISO 21597-1:2
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