PROVIDER Ontology

PROVIDER project ontology for modelling cross-sector supply chains, disruptions, resilience capabilities, monitoring signals, impacts, mitigation actions, and their relationship to infrastructure.

The current ontology is intentionally modular. The core ontology describes the domain vocabulary used by PROVIDER use cases, while the supply-chain operations module specializes the core for orders, inventory, shipments, documents, and operational processes. The BFO alignment module places core vocabulary under Basic Formal Ontology categories. OSM-derived infrastructure classes are expected to align later through the core classes InfrastructureAsset, TransportInfrastructureAsset, Route, and Network.

Files

File	Purpose
ontology/provider-main.ttl	Main PROVIDER core ontology in Turtle.
ontology/supply_chain_ontology.ttl	Supply-chain operations module importing the PROVIDER core.
ontology/provider-bfo-alignment.ttl	Separate BFO alignment module for the core ontology.
ontology/provider-main.xml	Earlier RDF/XML export containing initial sector classes. Currently behind the Turtle source.
ontology/infrastructure.ttl	OSM-oriented infrastructure ontology draft.
ontology/infrastructure_network.ttl	Draft network abstraction layer for infrastructure topology.
use-cases/soybean/soybean.md	Soybean supply-chain disruption use case used to shape the core vocabulary.
use-cases/soybean/example_data.ttl	Example soybean data using the supply-chain operations module.

Core Ontology

ontology/provider-main.ttl defines a compact upper layer for PROVIDER use cases. It is not an OSM ontology itself; it provides the cross-domain concepts that OSM-derived infrastructure can later attach to.

Main class groups:

• Context and organization: Sector, Region, Actor, Organization
• Physical and operational assets: Facility, InfrastructureAsset
• Supply-chain structure: SupplyChain, SupplyChainStage, Flow, Route, Network
• Products and traded goods: Product, Commodity
• Roles: SupplyChainRole, SupplierRole, ProducerRole, FarmerRole, TraderRole, CarrierRole, CustomerRole, ProcessorRole, RegulatorRole
• Events and risk: Hazard, Exposure, Vulnerability, Risk, Event, DisruptionEvent, DisasterEvent, InfrastructureOutageEvent, MarketShockEvent, PriceRiseEvent
• Monitoring and assessment: DataSource, Indicator, Observation, MonitoringSignal, Impact
• Response and resilience: ResilienceCapability, MitigationAction, DiversificationAction, BufferStockAction, ReroutingAction, SubstitutionAction, EmergencyProcurementAction

Important object properties:

• hasStage, precedesStage for supply-chain structure
• handlesProduct, hasInput, hasOutput for product and process modelling
• originatesAt, terminatesAt, movesAlong for flows and routes
• affectedBy, affects, causes, dependsOn, hasHazard, hasExposure, hasVulnerability, hasResilienceCapability for risk and disruption propagation
• observesIndicator, observedFor, indicates, derivedFrom for monitoring
• mitigates, implementedBy for resilience actions

The core uses a role-based hybrid model. Organizations and facilities are separate: a farm site is a Farm facility, while a farm business is an Organization bearing FarmerRole or ProducerRole. Deprecated compatibility terms such as Organisation, CommercialOrganisation, Wholesaler, and operatesInSector remain available for older data, but new data should use Organization, explicit roles, and hasSector.

Supply-Chain Operations Module

ontology/supply_chain_ontology.ttl imports ontology/provider-main.ttl and keeps operational vocabulary that is useful for supply-chain datasets:

• Warehouse, ManufacturingPlant, DistributionCenter
• Inventory, Batch, MaterialItem
• Order, PurchaseOrder, SalesOrder, ShipmentDocument, Invoice
• SupplyChainProcess and process subclasses for procurement, transportation, storage, fulfillment, delivery, inspection, and manufacturing
• supply-chain qualities such as quantity, weight, temperature, lead time, and inventory status

The module uses the canonical namespace http://projekt-provider.de/ontology/supply-chain#. Its duplicate-looking upper classes sc:Organization, sc:Facility, and sc:Product are aliases of the core Organization, Facility, and Product, retained for existing supply-chain datasets.

The core keeps infrastructure hooks deliberately broad. For example, an OSM port class can later be placed below TransferFacility or TransportInfrastructureAsset; an OSM road network can specialize Network; and an OSM route relation can specialize Route.

BFO Alignment

ontology/provider-bfo-alignment.ttl is a separate module that imports the PROVIDER core and BFO. It uses conservative rdfs:subClassOf mappings rather than owl:equivalentClass mappings.

The intent is to make the ontological commitments explicit while still allowing the PROVIDER domain model to evolve.

Representative alignments:

PROVIDER class	BFO target	Rationale
Sector	bfo:BFO_0000141 immaterial entity	A sector is a social/analytic grouping, not a single physical object.
Region	bfo:BFO_0000141 immaterial entity	Regions may be administrative, economic, or analytic regions. Concrete sites can be specialized later.
Organization	bfo:BFO_0000027 object aggregate	Organizations aggregate people, assets, and institutional parts.
Facility, InfrastructureAsset	bfo:BFO_0000040 material entity	Facilities and infrastructure assets are treated as physical entities.
SupplyChain, SupplyChainStage, Route	bfo:BFO_0000031 generically dependent continuant	These are treated as models, plans, or informational structures.
Network	bfo:BFO_0000027 object aggregate	A physical network aggregates connected infrastructure elements.
Process, Flow, Event, MitigationAction	bfo:BFO_0000015 process	These unfold over time.
Risk, Vulnerability, ResilienceCapability	bfo:BFO_0000016 disposition	These are treated as realizable tendencies or capabilities under triggering conditions.
Role, SupplyChainRole	bfo:BFO_0000023 role	Actor types such as supplier or carrier are represented as roles.
Indicator, Observation, MonitoringSignal	bfo:BFO_0000031 generically dependent continuant	These are information artifacts or records.

Some classes are intentionally marked with skos:scopeNote because their BFO placement depends on modelling choices:

• Product and Commodity may be material goods, energy products, certificates, or services.
• Route may be an information-bearing path, while a physical corridor may be modelled separately as a site or infrastructure asset.
• Producer, Trader, Carrier, Processor, Regulator, and Retailer are retained as deprecated convenience classes. New modelling should use Organization plus explicit supply-chain roles.
• Impact is kept broad until subclasses distinguish realized impact processes, impact qualities, and impact reports.

High-Level Diagram

The following Mermaid diagram sketches the intended architecture. It can be imported into Excalidraw via Mermaid-to-diagram workflows.

flowchart TB
  subgraph BFO["Basic Formal Ontology"]
    BFOEntity["entity"]
    BFOContinuant["continuant"]
    BFOOccurrent["occurrent / process"]
    BFOMaterial["material entity"]
    BFOImmaterial["immaterial entity"]
    BFOGDC["generically dependent continuant"]
    BFODisposition["disposition"]

    BFOEntity --> BFOContinuant
    BFOEntity --> BFOOccurrent
    BFOContinuant --> BFOMaterial
    BFOContinuant --> BFOImmaterial
    BFOContinuant --> BFOGDC
    BFOContinuant --> BFODisposition
  end

  subgraph Core["PROVIDER Core Ontology"]
    Sector["Sector"]
    Region["Region"]
    Actor["Actor / Organization"]
    Facility["Facility"]
    Infra["InfrastructureAsset"]
    SupplyChain["SupplyChain"]
    Stage["SupplyChainStage"]
    Product["Product / Commodity"]
    Flow["Flow"]
    Route["Route"]
    Network["Network"]
    Event["Event / DisruptionEvent"]
    Risk["Risk"]
    Vulnerability["Exposure / Vulnerability"]
    Impact["Impact"]
    Indicator["Indicator"]
    Observation["Observation / MonitoringSignal"]
    Mitigation["MitigationAction"]
    Capability["ResilienceCapability"]
  end

  subgraph OSM["Future OSM Infrastructure Module"]
    OSMPort["Port"]
    OSMRoad["Road / RoadSegment"]
    OSMRail["Railway / RailwaySegment"]
    OSMWater["Waterway / Canal"]
    OSMPower["PowerLine / Substation"]
    OSMNetwork["OSM Network / Route"]
  end

  BFOImmaterial -.alignment.-> Sector
  BFOImmaterial -.alignment.-> Region
  BFOMaterial -.alignment.-> Actor
  BFOMaterial -.alignment.-> Facility
  BFOMaterial -.alignment.-> Infra
  BFOGDC -.alignment.-> SupplyChain
  BFOGDC -.alignment.-> Stage
  BFOGDC -.alignment.-> Route
  BFOGDC -.alignment.-> Indicator
  BFOGDC -.alignment.-> Observation
  BFOOccurrent -.alignment.-> Flow
  BFOOccurrent -.alignment.-> Event
  BFOOccurrent -.alignment.-> Mitigation
  BFODisposition -.alignment.-> Risk
  BFODisposition -.alignment.-> Vulnerability
  BFODisposition -.alignment.-> Capability

  SupplyChain -->|hasStage| Stage
  Stage -->|precedesStage| Stage
  Actor -->|operatesFacility| Facility
  Stage -->|handlesProduct| Product
  Flow -->|originatesAt| Facility
  Flow -->|terminatesAt| Facility
  Flow -->|movesAlong| Route
  Route -->|uses| Network
  Event -->|affects| Stage
  Event -->|causes| Impact
  Risk -->|has exposure / vulnerability| Vulnerability
  Risk -->|realized through| Event
  Observation -->|observesIndicator| Indicator
  Observation -->|indicates| Risk
  Mitigation -->|mitigates| Risk

  OSMPort -.subClassOf.-> Infra
  OSMPort -.subClassOf.-> Facility
  OSMRoad -.subClassOf.-> Infra
  OSMRail -.subClassOf.-> Infra
  OSMWater -.subClassOf.-> Infra
  OSMPower -.subClassOf.-> Infra
  OSMNetwork -.subClassOf.-> Network
  OSMNetwork -.subClassOf.-> Route

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Soybean Use Case Fit

The soybean scenario can be represented as a supply chain with stages such as farming, storage, inland logistics, export port handling, ocean transport, EU import, crushing, feed production, livestock production, and retail.

Examples:

• Soybeans, soymeal, and soyoil are Commodity instances or subclasses.
• Farms, silos, ports, crushing plants, feed mills, and livestock farms are Facility specializations; farm businesses are Organization instances with FarmerRole or ProducerRole.
• Drought, crop disease, port strike, export ban, infrastructure outage, and freight price spike are DisruptionEvent specializations or instances.
• NDVI, yield forecast, port throughput, freight rate, lead time, inventory days cover, and consumer price index are Indicator instances.
• Forecasts, measurements, and alerts are Observation or MonitoringSignal instances.
• Supplier diversification, safety stock, flexible recipes, and alternative approved suppliers are MitigationAction instances.

Validation

Syntax validation commands used during development:

rapper -i turtle -c ontology/provider-main.ttl
rapper -i turtle -c ontology/supply_chain_ontology.ttl
rapper -i turtle -c ontology/provider-bfo-alignment.ttl
riot --validate ontology/provider-main.ttl
riot --validate ontology/supply_chain_ontology.ttl
riot --validate ontology/provider-bfo-alignment.ttl

Known state:

• ontology/provider-main.ttl is the canonical Turtle source for the core ontology.
• Root-level provider-main.ttl is an older draft reference and is not the maintained source of truth.
• ontology/supply_chain_ontology.ttl imports the core and uses the canonical HTTP namespace.
• ontology/provider-bfo-alignment.ttl is the current BFO alignment module.
• ontology/provider-main.xml has not been regenerated from the Turtle source.
• ontology/infrastructure_network.ttl still needs prefix declarations before it can be parsed as a standalone Turtle file.