[Data-modeling] Physical object

[Ed Laurent]

Thanks for the great response. You touched on all the subjects and examples
I was thinking about. I'm just thinking of ways to build intuitive models
that also have some of these rigorous, hierarchical, orthogonal qualities.
Sounds like a physical object type is not the way to go.

-Ed


On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 9:41 PM, Kurt Bollacker <kurt at metaweb.com> wrote:

>
> On Sun, May 04, 2008 at 01:39:10PM -0400, Ed Laurent wrote:
> > Does anyone know of an existing data model for a generic physical
> > body<http://www.freebase.com/view/en/physical_body>/object
> > that has volume, mass, and maybe some shape properties (e.g., max
> length)? I
> > can't find any that aren't specific to a particular class of object.
>
> I don't believe there is a physical object type, but I'm interested in
> what you'd be doing with it.
>
> Most (All?) topics types in Freebase have been modeled so that the
> properties reflect the usage of that object.  The usage of "physical
> object" is very abstract and ptobably requires a lot of cotypes to be
> of much use.  Systems that have such rigorous, (usually hierarchical)
> orthogonal ontologies (e.g. Cyc) are often designed for automated
> reasoning. Freebase, on the other hand, uses "mix-ins" of cotypes to
> organize information in a immediately, intuitively useful way, with
> evolves toward rigor over time as a goal.  For example, in Freebase,
> the radius of a star is given instead of volume, because that is a
> more accepted measure.  The volume of a person is not given at all
> because it is rarely used by anyone.  The volume of a "body of water"
> is given as cubic kilometers, and the volume of a digital camera is
> represented as its own "cameria dimensions" type.  Each of these is
> tuned to how it is expected to be used.
>
> Perhaps a "phsyical object" type is a good idea, but it's worth having
> the discussion of how to fit it in the ecosystems of existing types
> and needs.
>
>                                                                Kurt :-)
>
>
>
> > -Ed
>
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