Capturing normative constraints by use of the semantic mark-up RASE methodology

The AEC industry is highly regulated by a large number of rules given by public laws, codes, and regulative standards at both national and international levels. The relevant information in these documents need to be captured as rules for model checking in a time and cost effective way. The foundation for the RASE concept is using mark-up based on the four operators; requirement (R), applicabilities (A), selection (S) and exceptions (E) on normative text. The RASE technology has been tested on following three categories of documents: standard (case: NS 11001-1.E:2009 Universal design of building constructions - Part 1: Work buildings and buildings open to the public), standards with tables (Dubai regulations) and guidelines (case: GSA court design guidance document, USA). In each case expectations have been documented using free prose. On examination, the key clauses and phrases can be identified along with their role, allowing a testable, logical statement to be generated. The logical statement is then ready to be used by a compliance-checking engine to apply tests to a description of the facility. The results indicate that the RASE methodology can operate on a different types of normative documents with a trustworthy results.