A semantic approach to 3D information system for solving accessibility problems in cultural heritage domain

Abstract

Solving Accessibility problems in the built Cultural Heritage following “Design for All” principles requires an integration of tools (focused towards technicians and Administration) and functionalities (focused towards different kind of users, with special regard to dependent or disable people). The most important issues concern to interoperability between tools and the adaptation of already existing functionalities in complex monitored environments. Systems to be integrated concern to Documentation, Information and Management in regard to different functionalities (processes, services and applications) in the selected Architectural environment. Interoperability is a crucial issue for connecting different Systems in Architecture, Engineering and Construction environments. Context acknowledgement is the key for personalize contents to users, and provides guidelines for tasks to be developed in such context. It is necessary to solve interoperability between services and applications for assessing accessibility issues in monitored environments, with a special regard to indoor and outdoor scenarios. In this work, we develop a conceptual approach to interoperability issues in terms of an Ontology which is specifically designed for PATRAC Project. Our conceptual approach includes several knowledge areas involving the physical domain, users and tasks to be developed by users, with a special regard to technicians or dependent persons. This knowledge is represented according to OWL (Ontology Web Language) and provided in a Web service, which is being applied to Maritime Museum in Barcelona and in a small zone of the historic urban centre of Segovia, Spain.