ITcon Vol. 30, pg. 1208-1243, http://www.itcon.org/2025/49

A Review of the Application of Ontologies and Semantic Web for Building Information Modelling and Digital Twins Based Construction Management

DOI:10.36680/j.itcon.2025.049
submitted:September 2024
revised:July 2025
published:August 2025
editor(s):Amor R
authors:Asha D. Palihakkara, PhD Student
University of Nottingham
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0958-6429
asha.palihakkara@nottingham.ac.uk

Carlos A. Osorio-Sandoval, Assistant Professor
University of Nottingham
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1922-2610
carlos.osorio@nottingham.ac.uk

Walid Tizani, Associate Professor
University of Nottingham
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1868-6998
walid.tizani@nottingham.ac.uk
summary:As the construction industry is moving towards digitalisation, the integration of advanced technologies like Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital twins has become essential for enhancing project efficiency. Currently, the industry has the capacity to operate at BIM Maturity stage 2 but faces challenges in achieving seamless data integration and interoperability. Progressing toward BIM Maturity Stage 3 could benefit from adopting semantic web and linked data technologies, which enable a more structured, machine-readable data environment. However, the path to this level of integration remains complex. At the heart of the semantic web lies ontologies, playing a pivotal role in structuring domain knowledge. Therefore, through a systematic literature review, this study explores the integration of ontologies and semantic web technologies in BIM or Digital Twin environments for construction management. This study provides a trend and theoretical analysis under different construction management use cases to identify how ontologies and semantic web technologies have been utilised during the construction execution phase. The study identified eight different use cases, including safety management, compliance checking, and construction planning and production control, among others. The findings emphasise that while there is great potential in using ontologies and the semantic web for data integration, significant barriers remain, such as data privacy concerns, scalability issues, and the complexity of ontology mapping. These findings underscore the importance of addressing these challenges to fully harness the capabilities of semantic web technologies within BIM environments, providing a potential roadmap toward realising BIM Maturity Stage 3 and to enhance collaboration and data exchange in the construction industry. This study provides a roadmap for future research and technological development in applying semantic web technologies to advance construction management.
keywords:Semantic Web, Ontologies, Linked Data, BIM, Digital Twins, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), AEC Industry
full text: (PDF file, 0.824 MB)
citation:Palihakkara A D, Osorio-Sandoval C A, Tizani W (2025). A Review of the Application of Ontologies and Semantic Web for Building Information Modelling and Digital Twins Based Construction Management, ITcon Vol. 30, pg. 1208-1243, https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2025.049
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