Reuse of externally defined information concepts

Reusing externally defined concepts is a good practice for information modelling. The IFC model is a complete standalone model, with specifically defined primitive datatypes and datatypes for date and time, measures, geometry and more. Such concepts are also defined as general IT concepts (XML schema, basic ontologies) or as specific concepts for, e.g., geospatial information (ISO/TC 211 and OGC). Instead of defining specific abstract concepts for IFC, existing and more general concepts should be reused.
By reusing already defined concepts, integration with other domains would be easier to achieve.
Note: not all concepts are externally defined, e.g., ISO/TC 211 geometry concepts do not handle swept and constructive solids. Specific concepts needed for IFC should still be internally defined.

The move towards using UML for modelling of IFC is a good opportunity to look at this issue.
We have discussed the issue of integration with some core concepts from ISO/TC 211 standards in a newly published article: https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/9/4/278.

No source files or tests are named. Start by reviewing the project's move toward UML-based IFC modelling and the linked article on ISO/TC 211 integration; done means agreeing which externally defined concepts can be reused and which IFC-specific concepts must remain internally defined.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.