Ontology-Based Modeling and Reasoning for Construction Field Context

The increasing prevalence of mobile computing on construction sites has introduced new opportunities to improve communication and coordination among field crews. Despite advancements in mobile computing, the full potential of these innovations remains underutilized due to the lack of adaptation to construction-specific field context information and the heterogeneity of context information generated from diverse sources. Existing approaches have yet to establish a standardized, semantically rich framework to effectively manage and integrate construction context information. To address this gap, this study proposes the construction context information (CCI) model, a comprehensive ontology, encoded by the web ontology language (OWL), that is designed to represent and manage construction field context in a structured manner. The CCI model incorporates 17 validated context dimensions, capturing the attributes and interrelationships essential for construction workflows. In addition, the model includes a set of reasoning rules to infer high-level context information from low-level data input, enabling real-time decision making. A task-based evaluation approach is adopted to assess the model’s effectiveness in practical construction scenarios, ensuring that it meets the specific needs of field operations. By providing a universal, interoperable framework of field context information, the CCI model facilitates seamless integration of mobile computing technologies, supports knowledge sharing and reuse, and enables context-aware reasoning for construction teams. This research demonstrates the potential of the CCI model to transform the way context information is used on construction sites, ultimately improving project outcomes through better-informed decision-making and optimized operational efficiency.