An Ontology for Fire Building Evacuation

Abstract

Guiding the building occupants under fire emergency to a safe place is an open research problem, and finding solutions to address the problem requires a perfect knowledge of the fire building evacuation domain. The use of ontologies to model knowledge of a domain allows a common and shared understanding of that domain, between people and heterogeneous systems. This paper presents an ontology that aims to build a knowledge model to understand the referred domain better and help develop more capable building evacuation solutions and systems. The herein proposed ontology considers the different variables and actors involved in the fire building evacuation process. We followed the Methontology methodology for its developing, and we present all the development steps, from the specification to its implementation with the Protégé tool.

An Ontological Model for Fire Evacuation Route Recommendation in Buildings

“…The EmergencyFire ontology [8] aims to share knowledge of the fire emergency response in buildings, contributing to the organisations' tactical and strategic plans. [2] present an ontology for the evacuation of buildings under fire emergency that contributes to a better understanding of the fire building evacuation domain and to help the development of building evacuation solutions and systems.…”

“…As mentioned above, to build the herein presented ontology, we divide our research work into two phases. First, we start by developing an ontology for the evacuation of buildings under fire emergency [2], and then, we develop the ontological model presented in this paper, reusing that ontology. The ontology presented in [2] aims to develop a knowledge model about the thematic of buildings evacuation under fire, with the purpose that the ontology may contribute to a better understanding of the domain and help support the development of other ontologies related to the building evacuation domain, such as the one presented here.…”

“…We define the ontology's domain, scope, and purpose at the specification stage. According to [2], four main questions need to be answered: What is the ontology domain? Why build the ontology?…”

“…The system supports its development on an ontological model that considers the interoperability between the different actors involved in an evacuation route recommendation process, allowing a thorough knowledge of the domain. To build the ontology, we chose to divide our research work into two steps: In the first step, we developed an ontology for the evacuation of buildings under fire emergency [2]. Then, in a second step, and based on the referred ontology, we develop the ontological model presented here using [2] as the basis for the work.…”

“…To build the ontology, we chose to divide our research work into two steps: In the first step, we developed an ontology for the evacuation of buildings under fire emergency [2]. Then, in a second step, and based on the referred ontology, we develop the ontological model presented here using [2] as the basis for the work. Section 2 presents some relevant research works that propose ontologies to model knowledge in the emergency domain.…”