Talk at SEMANTiCS 2017 www.semantics.cc

1. From law to lod
Connecting information from legislation
and datasets using a catalogue
Wessel Schollmeijer
Lars Wortel

2. The “Digitaal stelsel Omgevingswet”
(Dutch environmental law)
• What does implementation of the new law imply?
• Current law(s)
• 26 laws, 4700 articles
• 120 Amendments and addenda
• 120 Ministerial regulations
• New environmental law
• 1 Law
• 4 Amendments
• Circa 10 Ministerial regulations

3. •A central entrance into
the system of law in which:
- Law
- Rules
- Concepts
- Data
- Information Product(s)
Are connected (linked)
to one another
Government and society
together establish integral what is and is not
allowed to make the Netherlands more beautiful,
safer, cleaner and better
> Environment visions
and environment plans
from municipalities,
provinces, water
boards and the
country
> Project ordinance
and environment
permissions
> program
The “Digitaal stelsel Omgevingswet”
(Dutch environmental law)

4. The “Digitaal stelsel Omgevingswet” (Dutch environmental law)
What is “our” role within the DSO
Bringing together the supply and the demand of information from multiple parties and multiple information sources.
Demand
Initiators, (local)government and stakeholders
Decision tables, exectutable rules & regulations, search paths into legal information.
Supply
“Informatiehuizen”, Registries (sources) and ROD “Ruimtelijke Ordening Documenten” (Development plans)
Source of information on which data is available within the “Digital System of Environmental law” and what this
data means (semantics).
Multiple Sources
Concepts from omgevingswet(Law) and 4 AMVB’s (Amendments) – anchorpoint executable rules
Concepts from local development plans (in ROD)
Concepts from the “Information houses” (Aquolex, Erfgoedthesaurus, etc.)
Concepts from base registries
Executable rules (modelled in DMN)
Information Models of base registries (UML converted to RDF according to KKG metamodel)
Other information models (from “Information houses”, for example calculation models, in UML/met DCAT)
Information products (from “Information houses”, RDF models on the basis of information models in UML)

5. Location and Role of the Catalogue in the system of the environmental law
Arrow indicates initiation direction
Sectoral Hub’s
E-
Government
Services
(Base)registrati
ons
Decrees and
other legal
constructs
Digitaal Stelsel Omgevingswet
User Applications Data and Informationproducts
beschikbaar stellen
E-Government
Functions
SupplyDemand
Systems
Apps
Digital
collaboration
Initiator
Stakeholder
Authority
Omgevingsloket
Information
User
applications
Uitvoerbare
Regels
Projectdossier
Initiator
Collaboration
on proposal
Collaboration
on permit
requests
Rules &
Regulations
Requests &
reports
Concept- and
Data -
definitions and
relations
Content Generic Data-collections
Informatiehuis x
Informatiehuis x
Informatiehuis x
Information products
Demand and Supply / Data Distribution
Source

6. Het Digitaal stelsel Omgevingswet / Digital System Environment Law
How do we fulfill our role within the DSO?
Publication of Metadata
Publication of Concepts
Publication of Information products
Publication of Law, Rules and Regulations
Catalogue of the “Digitaalstelsel Omgevingswet” / Digital system of Environment
Law

7. One Catalogue
One to serve them all, One to help them find it,
One to give them metadata and in real life let
them define it

8. LOD building blocks of the Catalogue
Data Collection Used Vocabularies
Metadata of Datasets DCAT http://www.w3.org/ns/dcat#
DCT http://purl.org/dc/terms/
DQV http://www.w3.org/ns/dqv#
foaf http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/
Concepts Skos http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#
Skos-thes http://www.purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#
Skos-lex http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#
RDFS http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
Information models RDF
http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-
ns#
RDFS http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#
SHACL http://www.w3.org/ns/shacl#
OWL (only structural, no inferencing) http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#
Metadata of services
The description of a service is part of the description of a dataset, that describes the input and output
of a service in combination with the information model data. Vocabularies mentioned under [2] and [3]
are used
Version and provenance information PROV-O http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#

9. Catalogue
dcat:Catalog
dct:title
dct:description
dct:issued
dct:modified
dct:language
dct:license
dct:rights
dct:spatial
foaf:homepage
dcat:CatalogRecord
dct:title
dct:description
dct:issued
dct:modified
dcat:Dataset
dct:title
dct:description
dct:issued
dct:modified
dct:identifier
dcat:keyword
dct:language
dcat:contactPoint
dct:spatial
dcat:landigPage
dcat:Distribution
dct:title
dct:description
dct:issued
dct:modified
dct:license
dct:rights
dcat:accessURL
dcat:downloadURL
dcat:mediaType
dct:format
skos:Concept
skos:ConceptSchemeOverheid:Organisatie
dcat:record
dcat:dataset foaf:primaryTopic
dcat:distribution
dcat:theme
skos:inScheme
dcat:themeTaxonomydct:publisher

10. Concepts

11. Concepts
Concepts (all groups)
Societal Concepts
Institutional Concepts
Explicitly determined
concepts
Explicitly denominated
concepts
Harmonised concepts
Explicitly determined legal
concepts
Annotated concepts
“Garden shed”, “Dormer window”,
“Greenery”
Concepts determined in the attachement to
article 1 “Omgevingswet” (Environment Law)
Concepts that are merely mentioned and
explained
Concepts that might be harmonised from different sets of local
governement rules and regulation
Concept “exploiteren jachthaven”, determined in Article 3.261
“Besluit activiteiten Leefomgeving”;
Concepts like “sewer” or “plot border”, annotated als part of the
information necessary to request a permit for a certain activity

12. URI-strategy
<base> “/” <domain>[“/” <local>] ”/” <type> ”/” <collection> “/” <reference>
Element
Base
Domain wetgeving Resources from the Environment law and other laws
regelgeving Resources from Ammendments, Ministerial regulations and local regulations
toepasbare-regels
(TR) Legal rules transformed into comprehencable questions and applied in the form of questionaires and forms
content Content resources such as text, helptexts, images, videos, etc.
ruimte Resources of the "informationhouse" Ruimte (Spatial)
bouw Resources of the "informationhouse" Bouw (Buildings)
lucht Resources of the "informationhouse" Lucht (Air)
afval Resources of the "Informationhouse" Afval (Waste)
bodem-
ondergrond Resources of the "Informationhouse" Bodem-Ondergrond (Soil)
natuur Resources of the "Informationhouse" Natuur (Nature)
water Resources of the "Informationhouse" Water (Water)
externe-veiligheid Resources of the "Informationhouse" Externe-Veiligheid (External security)
cultureel-erfgoed Resources of the "Informationhouse" Cultureel-Erfgoed (Cultural heritage)
Local Bevoegd gezag Local authority (either a municipality, province, water board, etc.)
Type ID
Doc
Collection Concepts Concepts and the subclasses of concepts used within the conceptscheme
Collections Collections of concepts
Datasets Dataset
Catalog Records Catalog record

13. ConceptScheme
Element Predicate Vocabulary
Concept skos:Concept http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept
Name (Term) skos:prefLabel http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#prefLabel
Label rdfs:label http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label
Definition skos:definition http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#definition
Comment rdfs:comment http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment
Explanation skos:scopeNote http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#scopeNote
Synonym skos:altLabel http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#altLabel
Source dct:source http://purl.org/dc/terms/source
Domain skos:inScheme http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#inScheme
Is specialisation of skos:broaderGeneric http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#broaderGeneric
Is generalisation of skos:narrowerGeneric http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#narrowerGeneric
Is part of skos:broaderPartitive http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#broaderPartitive
Is made up of skos:narrowerPartitive http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#narrowerPartitive
Has relation with skos:semanticRelation http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#semanticRelation
valid dct:valid http://purl.org/dc/terms/valid
Approximately matches (in other scheme) skos:closeMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#closeMatch
Matches (in other scheme) skos:exactMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#exactMatch
See also (in other scheme) skos:relatedMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#relatedMatch
Broader than (in otherScheme) skos:broadMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#broadMatch
Narrower than (in other scheme) skos:narrowMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#narrowMatch
Activity skoslex:Act http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#Act
can be performed by skoslex:actor http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#actor
does something with skoslex:object http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#object
Norm skoslex:Norm http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#Norm
affects skoslex:affects http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#affects
refers to skoslex:refersTo http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#refersTo

14. ConceptScheme History
Element Predicate Vocabulary
Concept skos:Concept http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept
Name (Term) skos:prefLabel http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#prefLabel
Label rdfs:label http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label
Definition skos:definition http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#definition
Comment rdfs:comment http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment
Explanation skos:scopeNote http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#scopeNote
Synonym skos:altLabel http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#altLabel
Source dct:source http://purl.org/dc/terms/source
Domain skos:inScheme http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#inScheme
Is specialisation of skos:broaderGeneric http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#broaderGeneric
Is generalisation of skos:narrowerGeneric http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#narrowerGeneric
Is part of skos:broaderPartitive http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#broaderPartitive
Is made up of skos:narrowerPartitive http://purl.org/iso25964/skos-thes#narrowerPartitive
Has relation with skos:semanticRelation http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#semanticRelation
valid dct:valid http://purl.org/dc/terms/valid
Approximately matches (in other scheme) skos:closeMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#closeMatch
Matches (in other scheme) skos:exactMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#exactMatch
See also (in other scheme) skos:relatedMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#relatedMatch
Broader than (in otherScheme) skos:broadMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#broadMatch
Narrower than (in other scheme) skos:narrowMatch http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#narrowMatch
Activity skoslex:Act http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#Act
can be performed by skoslex:actor http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#actor
does something with skoslex:object http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#object
Norm skoslex:Norm http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#Norm
affects skoslex:affects http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#affects
refers to skoslex:refersTo http://bp4mc2.org/def/skos-lex#refersTo
valid dcterms:valid http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms/#terms-valid
End of formal history prov:invalidatedAtTime http://www.w3.org/TR/prov-o/#invalidatedAtTime
Location where concept is valid dct:spatial http://purl.org/dc/terms/spatial
Collection of Concepts:

15. Mastergraph
Concept1 rdfs:isDefinedBy Versiongraph1
Concept2 rdfs:isDefinedBy Versiongraph1
Concept3 rdfs:isDefinedBy Versiongraph2
Concept4 rdfs:isDefinedBy Versiongraph3
Concept5 rdfs:isDefinedBy Versiongraph1
…
Versiongraph3
Versiongraph2
Versiongraph1
Concept1 rdf:type skos:Concept.
Concept1 rdfs:label “1e concept”.
Concept1 skos:semanticRelation Concept2.
Concept1 dct:valid “1-1-2016”.
…
Concept2 rdf:type skos:Concept.
Concept2 rdfs:label “2e concept”.
Concept2 thes:broaderGeneric Concept3.
Concept2 dct:valid “1-1-2017”.
…
…
How the history model works

16. A D
A C D
A C D
Mastergraph
Versiongraph 1
C

17. A DB
A C DB
CB
A C D
Mastergraph
Versiongraph 2
Versiongraph 1

18. A’ DB
A’ C DB
A’
CB
A C D
Mastergraph
Versiongraph 3
Versiongraph 2
Versiongraph 1

19. Different types of history and status

20. ConceptScheme bound by Shaclmodel:Concept rdf:type sh:NodeShape;
rdfs:label "Concept";
rdfs:comment "Concepts are, ideas, meanings of (categories of) objects and activities";
sh:targetClass skos:Concept;
sh:property model:conceptDomain;
sh:property model:conceptSource;
sh:property model:conceptLabel;
sh:property model:conceptName;
sh:property model:conceptSynonym;
sh:property model:conceptDefinition;
sh:property model:conceptScopeNote;
sh:property model:conceptExplanation;
sh:property model:conceptRationale;
sh:property model:conceptIsSpecialisationOf;
sh:property model:conceptIsGeneralisationOf;
sh:property model:conceptIsPartOf;
sh:property model:conceptConsistsOf;
sh:property model:conceptSemanticRelation;
sh:property model:conceptApproximatelyMatches;
sh:property model:conceptMatches;
sh:property model:conceptSeeAlso;
sh:property model:conceptHasBroader;
sh:property model:conceptHasNarrower;
sh:property model:conceptWasGeneratedBy;
sh:property model:conceptIsTopConceptOf;
.
model:conceptDomain rdf:type sh:PropertyShape;
rdfs:label "Domein";
rdfs:comment "The Concept is definined within the context of a conceptScheme";
sh:path skos:inScheme;
sh:name "skos:inScheme";
sh:datatype xsd:string;
sh:minCount 1;
sh:maxCount 1;
sh:class skos:ConceptScheme; http://data.acceptatie.pdok.nl/catalogus/dso/..../....

21. The rules of law
Decision Model Notation

22. Functional Structure Rules & Regulations
Owl:Class
Activities Activity
Activities with consequences
for the fysical environment
Using and maintaining
buildings
Subjects Subject
Maintaining
buildings
Using
buildings
<XYZ>
Rules &
Regulations
Rule
Rules for using
buildings
Conclusion for
using
buildings
Necessary
information
for
notification
of using a
building
Approval of
notification
using a
building
skos:Collection
skos:Collection
skos:Collection
skos:hasTopConcept
skos:member
skos-thes: broaderGeneric skos-thes: broaderGeneric
skos:Concept skos:Concept skos:Concept
Skos-lex:Act Skos-lex:Act Skos-lex:Act Skos-lex:Act
Skos-lex:Norm Skos-lex:Norm Skos-lex:Norm
Skos-lex:Norm Skos-lex:Norm
skos-thes: broaderGeneric
skos:hasTopConcept
skos:member
skos:hasTopConcept
skos:member
skos:narrowerTransitive
rdfs:seeAlso
(logicaly related)
skos-lex:refersTo
(legally related)
skos-lex:affects

23. DMN
• DMN: Decision Model and Notation
http://www.omg.org/spec/DMN/1.1/
• OMG standard, similar to BPMN, to model ánd execute decisions, its
structure and its underlying rules
• Available in XMI/XSD
• Expressed in XML
• Translated to RDF

24. DMN result: DRD
• Decision Requirements Diagram: a decision tree with links to input
data, decisions and sources

25. DMN result: functional structure
• Link between decisions and the functional structure
• Link between the functional structure and concepts