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Space Types Axis Mapping Ontology

Release 01.12.2025

Latest version:
https://w3id.org/spot/am#
Revision:
1.0.0
Authors:
Anne Göbels, (Design Computation, RWTH Aachen)
Oliver Schulz, (Design Computation, RWTH Aachen)
Fabian Rolke,(Design Computation, RWTH Aachen)
Imported Ontologies:
Space Types Ontology
Extended Ontologies:
Space Types Ontology
Download serialization:
JSON-LD RDF/XML N-Triples TTL
License:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License
Visualization:
Visualize with WebVowl
Cite as:
Göbels, A., Schulz, O., & Rolke, F. (2025). SPOT Axis Mapping Ontology (Version 1.0.0). https://w3id.org/spot/am (see BibTeX entry)
Ontology Specification Draft

Abstract

The SPOT Axis Mapping (SPOT-AM) Ontology is an extension of the Space Types Ontology (SPOT) that enables precise definition of spatial transformations between spaces through axis and boundary point mappings.

By decomposing transformations into rotation and translation components, SPOT-AM supports both automated and manual creation of spatial metadata, accommodating varying levels of accuracy and human readability.

Introduction back to ToC

While the core Space Types Ontology provides a framework for spatial data organization, a more detailed mechanism is needed to define the precise positioning and orientation of spatial relationships between spaces.

The SPOT Axis Mapping (SPOT-AM) Ontology addresses this by enabling the definition of spatial transformations through two complementary mechanisms: Axis Mappings, which define the rotational relationship between spaces, and Boundary Point Mappings, which define their translational positioning. Both support varying levels of accuracy and can express spatial relationships qualitatively through human-readable directional relations via the Relative Location Ontology (RELOC).

Namespace declarations

Table 1: Namespaces used in the document
spot-am<https://w3id.org/spot/am#>
spot<https://w3id.org/spot>
reloc<https://w3id.org/reloc>
schema<http://schema.org>
owl<http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl>
rdf<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns>
terms<http://purl.org/dc/terms>
xsd<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema>
voaf<http://purl.org/vocommons/voaf>
rdfs<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema>
vann<http://purl.org/vocab/vann>
default namespace<https://w3id.org/spot/am>

SPOT-AM Ontology: Overview back to ToC

This ontology has the following classes and properties.

Classes

Object Properties

Named Individuals

Cross reference for SPOT-AM Ontology classes, properties and dataproperties back to ToC

This section provides details for each class and property defined by SPOT-AM Ontology.

Classes

Accuracyc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#Accuracy

The level of accuracy for an axis mapping, indicating if they are exact, approximate, or broadly parallel.
is in range of
has accuracy op
has members
Approximate ni, Broad ni, Exact ni

Axis Mappingc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#AxisMapping

The Axis Mapping is related to an Appearance of an Entity Space and defines which Axis of the Entity Space (Source Axis) can be mapped to which Axis of the Reference Space (another Entity, Document or Asset Space). This relation can be further specified with an accuracy. An AxisMapping object can only relate one Source Axis to one Reference Axis. Thus, typically, each Entity Space Appearance links to three Axis Mapping objects.
is in domain of
has accuracy op, has axis relation type op, has source axis op, has target axis op
is in range of
has axis mapping op

Axis Relation Typec back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#AxisRelationType

Defines the geometrical relation between two mapped axes.
is in range of
has axis relation type op
has members
Antiparallel ni, Codirectional ni

Boundary Pointc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#BoundaryPoint

A point that defines a boundary of an Entity Space on a specific Axis.
has sub-classes
Maximum Boundary Point c, Minimum Boundary Point c
is in range of
has boundary point op, has source point op

Boundary Point Mappingc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#BoundaryPointMapping

The Boundary Point Mapping describes the relation of an Entity Axis Boundary Point (Source Point) to the reference space. The relation can be expressed by Directional Properties of the RELOC Ontology (e.g., containedInFront/Right/Bottom etc.) in relation to the reference space.
is in domain of
has source point op
is in range of
has boundary point mapping op

Maximum Boundary Pointc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#MaxBoundaryPoint

A point that represents the maximum/upper boundary of an Entity Space on a specific Axis
has super-classes
Boundary Point c

Minimum Boundary Pointc back to ToC or Class ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#MinBoundaryPoint

A point that represents the minimum/lower boundary of an Entity Space on a specific Axis
has super-classes
Boundary Point c

Object Properties

appears inop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot#AppearsIn

has sub-property chains
has axis mapping op o has target axis op
has boundary point mapping op o directional relation op

has accuracyop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasAccuracy

Specifies the accuracy level of an axis mapping.
has domain
Axis Mapping c
has range
Accuracy c

has axis mappingop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasAxisMapping

Relates an appearance to an axis mapping object. One appearance can have multiple Axis Mappings. Typically three: For each Entity Axis one.
has domain
appearance
has range
Axis Mapping c

has axis relation typeop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasAxisRelationType

Specifies which kind of geometrical relation the two mapped axes have to each other.
has domain
Axis Mapping c
has range
Axis Relation Type c

has boundary pointop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasBoundaryPoint

Relates an axis to a boundary point. These points can than be mapped/related to a reference space. Usually, only Axes of Entity Spaces get Boundary Point Definitions.
has domain
axis
has range
Boundary Point c

has boundary point mappingop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasBoundaryPointMapping

Relates an appearance to a boundary point mapping. Each appearance can have multiple boundary point mappings. For mappings of volume spaces, up to 6 boundary points mappings are usually needed (min and max point of each axis).
has domain
appearance
has range
Boundary Point Mapping c

has source axisop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasSourceAxis

Specifies which Entity Axis/Source axis is being mapped. Only Axes from Entity Spaces should be in the range of this property.
has domain
Axis Mapping c
has range
axis and (inverse has axis some entity space)

has source pointop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasSourcePoint

Specifies which EntityAxis/ Source boundary point is being mapping
has domain
Boundary Point Mapping c
has range
Boundary Point c

has target axisop back to ToC or Object Property ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#hasTargetAxis

Specifies to which target axis the source axis is mapped. The target axis must be from another space instance as the source axis.
has domain
Axis Mapping c
has range
axis

Named Individuals

Antiparallelni back to ToC or Named Individual ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#Antiparallel

The source axis is antiparallel (parallel but directed in opposite direction) to the target axis.
belongs to
Axis Relation Type c

Approximateni back to ToC or Named Individual ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#Approximate

The relationship between the axes defined in the axis mapping corresponds closely to reality, with minor deviations (e.g., nearly parallel axes).
belongs to
Accuracy c

Broadni back to ToC or Named Individual ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#Broad

The source axis is assigned to the closest matching target axis in the context of the defined relationship, despite significant discrepancies.
belongs to
Accuracy c

Codirectionalni back to ToC or Named Individual ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#Codirectional

The source axis is parallel to the target axis and having the same direction.
belongs to
Axis Relation Type c

Exactni back to ToC or Named Individual ToC

IRI: https://w3id.org/spot/am#Exact

The relationship between the axes defined in the axis mapping corresponds exactly to reality.
belongs to
Accuracy c

Legend back to ToC

c: Classes
op: Object Properties
dp: Data Properties
ni: Named Individuals

References back to ToC

Göbels, A., Schulz, O., & Beetz, J. (2024). Towards a Common Digital Space: Proposing a Schema for Spatially Linking Heterogeneous Resources. Proceedings of the 41st International Conference of CIB W78. https://itc.scix.net/paper/w78-2024-13

Acknowledgements back to ToC

The SPOT-AM Ontology was developed during the SPP 100+ Spacelink and Spatio-B-RAG Project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Germany – Project numbers 501812634 and 562882930.

The authors would like to thank Silvio Peroni for developing LODE, a Live OWL Documentation Environment, which is used for representing the Cross Referencing Section of this document and Daniel Garijo for developing Widoco, the program used to create the template used in this documentation.