GeoSPARQL Standards Working Group Meeting Minutes
Meeting Details
Meeting Date: 01/21/2026
Meeting Time: 2000 UTC
Meeting Location: Microsoft Teams
Attendees
| Attendee |
Moniker |
| Jo Abhayaratna |
JA |
| Matthew Perry |
MP |
| Timo Homburg |
TH |
| Nicholas Car |
NC |
| Paul Cripps |
PC |
| Thomas (IFC / Linked Building Data) |
TS |
Note Takers
- JA (assisted by Teams transcription)
Action Items From Last Meetings
| Done? |
Item |
Responsible |
Due Date |
| ✅ |
Contact Rob Atkinson regarding OGC Building Blocks discussion |
JA |
Completed |
Discussion Items
| Time |
Item |
Who |
Notes |
| 2000 |
Meeting setup and roll call |
JA |
- Meeting opened with roll call.
- Recording and transcription confirmed.
- No patents declared.
|
| 2010 |
Building Blocks status and CRS ontology |
TH |
- TH reported progress on publishing CRS ontology Building Blocks.
- Discussed challenges publishing Building Blocks alongside existing GitHub Pages content.
- Shared links to deployed Building Blocks for review.
|
| 2025 |
Granularity of Building Blocks documentation |
TH, NC |
- Discussion on whether Building Blocks should document individual classes/functions or reusable groupings.
- Consensus that Building Blocks should align with reusable “chunks” rather than every class individually.
|
| 2040 |
GeoSPARQL 3D and IFC use cases |
TS |
- TS presented background on IFC geometry, 3D complexity, and challenges aligning IFC with GeoSPARQL.
- Outlined a draft questionnaire intended to capture IFC community perspectives on GeoSPARQL 3D scope.
- Emphasised the need to distinguish what is actually used vs theoretically possible.
|
| 2100 |
GeoSPARQL–IFC alignment discussion |
NC, JA, PC, TH |
- Discussion focused on GeoSPARQL providing fundamental 3D geometry and topological relations rather than deep IFC semantics.
- Examples raised from hydrology and building models to illustrate lightweight alignment benefits.
- Agreement that tolerances and geometric fuzziness are challenging and may not belong in core GeoSPARQL.
|
| 2140 |
Questionnaire refinement and distribution |
All |
- Agreement to refine questionnaire to capture current usage and barriers to adoption.
- Target communities identified: GeoSemantics DWG, implementers group, and Linked Building Data community (via Arcadios).
|
| 2155 |
Close |
All |
MEETING ENDS |
Action Items
| # |
Item |
Responsible |
Due Date |
| 1 |
Coordinate meeting with Rob Atkinson on OGC Building Blocks |
JA |
Next Meeting |
| 2 |
Share CRS ontology Building Blocks for feedback on granularity and structure |
TH |
Next Meeting |
| 3 |
Refine IFC–GeoSPARQL questionnaire to include current usage and adoption barriers |
TS |
Next Meeting |
| 4 |
Distribute questionnaire to identified communities (GeoSemantics DWG, implementers, Linked Building Data) |
TH, JA |
Following Refinement |