A Semantic Spatial Policy Model to Automatically Calculate Allowable Gross Floor Areas in Singapore


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Date

2023

Publication Type

Conference Paper

ETH Bibliography

yes

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Abstract

Urban data analytics is helping to shape current and future cities, but the process of generating urban analytical indicators is often difficult to scale and automate. For instance, planners determine allowable Gross Floor Area (GFA) on a plot by manually cross-referencing multi-domain policies. As allowable GFA governs potential future developments, it is imperative to quantify and understand its values city-wide. This paper presents the first steps of a research effort to develop an automated semantic spatial policy model to estimate allowable GFA for plots in Singapore. We use ontologies and Knowledge Graph (KG) platforms to address regulatory data interoperability and automation challenges. We filtered regulation concepts that determine buildable area and volume at Level of Detail 1 (LoD1) and standardised these concepts across different regulatory sources. Then, we modelled concept-related policies and automated the generation of possible GFA values per plot. Finally, we developed an ontology to store these values in a dynamic geospatial KG. Our approach presents two key benefits: 1) a generated dataset of allowable GFA eliminates the need for manual calculation by field experts, and 2) a graph data structure is ideally suited for unstructured regulatory data, like planning regulations. We conclude that semantic spatial policy models improve the interoperability between multi-domain regulatory data and plan to generate a dataset for the entire Singapore as well as integrate regulatory data for mixed-use plots.

Publication status

published

Book title

Computer-Aided Architectural Design. INTERCONNECTIONS: Co-computing Beyond Boundaries

Volume

1819

Pages / Article No.

455 - 469

Publisher

Springer

Event

20th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design (CAAD Futures 2023)

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Ontology; Regulatory data; Knowledge graph; Urban indicators; Oncology; Semanic web; Land use planning; Planning regulations

Organisational unit

03901 - Raubal, Martin / Raubal, Martin check_circle
08058 - Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC) / Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC)
08060 - FCL / FCL

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