The AccessDirections aggregated concept aggregates the information needed to get from one location (the fromPoint) to another (the toPoint). The accessTransport property indicates how the toPoint is to be reached (by car, by train, etc.) and which usual costs apply. AccessDirections will typically be provided in the context of a particular location, such as an accommodation. In this case, the toPoint value will be the accommodation. However, there may also be a requirement to provide directions from an accommodation to an attraction or external facility; in such a case, the accommodation is the fromPoint.
The Accommodation aggregated concept is the primary accommodation entity. An accommodation is in one location and is managed by an organiser. It may physically consist of a number of buildings in proximity to one another. However, if an accommodation is spread across a number of locations then these are treated as multiple accommodations. An accommodation may consist of a hotel, or a bed and breakfast, or a pension, or any other form of accommodation which provides private-room, catered services to guests. The self-catering and camping sectors are excluded from the scope of the accommodation concept. However, the accommodation ontology is structured in such a way as to facilitate the broadening of the sub domain in the future. An accommodation is made up of a number of units (often bedrooms). The accommodation has facilities which are available on a per-accommodation basis (accommodation-level facilities), such as a swimming pool or car park. The units also have facilities, which are available on a per-unit basis (unit-level facilities), such as hair-dryers.
The Address aggregated concept includes all the information needed to contact an individual or organisation by postal mail. This includes the administrative region, province and country, the city and the street address. It also includes the XY information (latitude, longitude and altitude) to support GPS navigation systems.
An attraction has much in common with an accommodation and has many similar properties. This reflects the fact that both are tourism offerings, both are static (i.e. do not move from place to place), both are available most or all of the time, and both have associated costs.
This aggregated concept provides information about the award or standard allocated to a tourism offering such as an accommodation or a restaurant. The aggregated concept reflects the reality that there are many awarding bodies, including the AA, the ADAC, the national tourism organisations, etc. The awardRange specifies the maximal value an offering can achieve. Usual gradings like ‘+’ and ‘-‘ are represented by the values ‘.3’ and ‘.7’.
The Category aggregated concept contains the information needed to place a tourism resource into one or more categories or sub-categories. It includes one or more sets of level-value pairs, where the level indicates how specific the category is, and the value indicates the particular category into which the resource fits. Thus, for example, a football match might have a category pair such as (level-1, value-sport) as well as another, more specific category pair such as (level-2, value-soccer). One or more such Category aggregated concepts may apply, allowing the resource to belong to arbitrarily-many categories of various levels. Category information allows resources to be characterised according to a controlled vocabulary of category terms. This greatly facilitates focused searching for particular types of resource, and allows the end user to identify resources, which are likely to be of interest to a particular consumer. Category information is provided at two or more levels, in order to allow refined and tightly-focused searches. Thus, for example, within the category of sport there are further categories for soccer matches, horse races, etc.
The Contact aggregated concept combines Position and Coordinates, holding all the information needed to identify and contact an individual with a particular role in an organisation. The Contact aggregated concept provides all this information in a single aggregated concept and has many possible applications.
The Coordinates aggregated concept brings together the information held in the Telecoms and Address aggregated concepts, providing all the information needed to contact an individual or organisation by post, by email, by telephone or on the web.
The Cost aggregated concept contains the information needed to specify an amount of money.
The Date aggregated concept contains year, month and day-of-month values. Each date aggregated concept represents one calendar day. The dateText property allows the name of a particular day (e.g. Christmas) to be included.
The DateList contains a list of dates. This can be used as an alternative and/or a supplement to the DateRange, if several separate dates need to be listed.
The DateRange aggregated concept represents a number of consecutive days. It includes a start date and an end date, both of which are included in the DateRange. Thus, for example, the DateRange.startDate might be 01 March 2003, the DateRange.endDate might be 5 March 2003, and the DateRange would include the days 01,02,03,04 and 05 March 2003.
The DayTimes aggregated concept represents periods of time for certain days of the week and can e.g. describe opening hours of attractions, occurrences of events, etc.
The DaysOfWeek aggregated concept represents one or more days of the week within a given date range. For example, it might be used, in combination with the DateRange aggregated concept, to represent ‘all Saturdays in June 2004’, or ‘Monday to Friday, all year’.
The Description aggregated concept provides a textual description of the nature of the tourism product or service. This is the primary source of information for a consumer considering the product or service. In order to facilitate re-use of the ontology information, the description is divided into two parts: a short description or summary and a long description. Both of these may be provided in multiple languages. Thus, these two fields provide a short description, for example for use with a list of bullet points, and a fuller description, of the product or service. The Description supports linking to a web URL beyond the ontology, in order to facilitate the end user finding out more information about a product or service. Since many products or services will have photographs, timetables and background information published online, this URL field is expected to be valuable. Some offerings will be of only local or regional significance; for example, it is unlikely that tourists would fly internationally simply to attend a street market. Other offerings will be of great significance, such as the Olympic Games or an Expo. The extent of the significance of a tourism offering is reflected in the extent field.
The Event is the root concept for the Events sub-domain. It provides a model of a real-world event, characterizing it in terms of location, timescale, category and other properties. The Event Organiser is that organisation which is responsible for the creation and staging of the event. This may be a ballet company, or a football association, or a municipality, etc. In many cases it is not possible to reserve tickets from the organiser, instead this is dealt with by a body which sells tickets (See SupportAgency). However, if a complaint must be made, or a general enquiry about the Event itself must be made, the organiser is the likely target.
This aggregated concept aggregates information about a facility. Such a construct is useful in different tourism domains, e.g. accommodation or gastronomy. Facilities may be associated with an accommodation, or with a single unit within an accommodation, or have some other, non-accommodation scope. This is reflected in the Extent property. Facilities may be available to all, or may be restricted to certain categories of user (e.g. golf course available only to penthouse guests). Lists of unit and accommodation facilities are provided in Appendix A.
The Gastro aggregated concept is the primary food and drink entity. A gastro is in one location and is managed by one organisation. It may physically consist of a number of buildings in proximity to one another. However, if a gastro is spread across a number of locations then these are treated as multiple gastros. Also, if a single establishment includes two different offerings (e.g. a bar, with basic bar food, and a restaurant with a la carte gourmet offerings), this is treated as two gastros, which are related to one another. A gastro may consist of a restaurant, a pub, a mountain hut, a sandwich shop, or any other form of location which provides prepared food or drink for consumption on or off the premises. A gastro has much in common with an accommodation, such as a location, an organiser, etc. However, it also has many attributes of its own, particularly those which focus on the food and drink available in the gastro. The key attributes of a gastro, which differ from those of an accommodation are - The gastroType of the gastro - The cuisine served (which may be primarily drink, in some cases) - The profile values (e.g. whether or not outside catering is provided, whether picnics are allowed, etc.) - The facility values (e.g. whether there are separate children’s dining areas, whether there is a smoking room, etc.) The profile and facility values are considered as extensions to the existing (accommodation) profile and facility values.
This aggregated concept includes the information needed to uniquely identify an entity within the HarmoNET network. It can include a unique ID across the HarmoNET network. However, in order to simplify reconciliation and tracking across and within suppliers, this aggregated concept can also include supplier-specific IDs.
The LanguageText aggregated concept provides a text together with its language.
This aggregated concept provides information about legal identification of tourism resources. This includes unique corporate identifiers such as the SIRET, APE and RCS numbers issued by the French state organisation INSEE. The aggregated concept reflects the reality that there may be more than one legal identifier and that there may also be a need for additional text.
The Link aggregated concept is used to create hypertext links between related concepts. The core example is the linking of one event to another, thus creating a series of related links. However, an accommodation can also be linked to other accommodations (‘sister hotels’, etc.).
The ListValue aggregated concept contains a value of a value list defined globally within the complete HarmoNET network as well as a value of a domain specific value list together with the name of the domain. The HarmoNET-wide unique value enables a mapping between domain specific value lists while the domain specific value avoids a loss of information in case a precise mapping is not possible.
The Location aggregated concept of the ontology contains information about where the tourism offering can be found. The location may be within a particular building (e.g. for a ballet or opera), or may cover a whole region (e.g. the Winter Olympic Games). The Location has a unique ID associated with it. This ensures that a unique ID exists for any given location within the HARMONET context, while maintaining the source Actor’s Location ID. The Name may contain, for example, the name of the building in which an event occurs. This is in addition to the street address and the XY coordinates, which are included within the Address information. The environment is an enumerated value, describing the overall area where a location is to be found (e.g. in a city centre, in the mountains, near a ski resort, etc.). The Telecoms and Contact information provide avenues of access to more information about the location. This may include, for example, the phone number for the front desk or the concierge of a building. Access provides information on how to get to the location. This may include information on trains and airports, or on the appropriate motorway route to take, in order to arrive at an event. This may be provided in multiple languages. Room specifies a certain room within a building (e.g. a congress center).
The Measure aggregated concept contains a measure unit and value to express e.g. a distance, file size, etc.
The Messenger aggregated concept contains information about contact details for different messenger services, e.g. skype. Provider specifies the name of the messenger service provider.
The MultiLanguageText aggregated concept provides a container for multiple representations of the same text in different languages.
This aggregated concept provides the information needed to describe a multi-media object which contains information about a tourism offering or resource. Typically, such a multimedia item will be a file on a web server, or a printed brochure. The MultiMediaItem aggregated concept includes meta-data for searching for such multi-media items. This meta-data is a subset of the standard Dublin Core meta-primitive concept set.
The Organisation aggregated concept contains all the information needed to identify and contact an organisation. This includes the name and coordinates of the organisation itself, a description as well as the details of a contact individual. By combining and including the Address, Coordinates and Telecoms. Information in a single concept, the organisation aggregated concept provides all the information that is likely to be needed to represent a company, an association or any other type of organisation.
This aggregated concept includes personal and contact information for a person taking part in an event or activity, as well as validity information (how long participation by the individual is authorised).
This aggregated concept represents a period of time. Like TimeUnit, it has a specific duration; however, it also indicates the time of day when the period begins and ends, rather than just its duration.
The PersonName aggregated concept includes all the information needed to correctly address an individual. This includes his or her salutation (e.g. Mr, Ms, etc.), title (e.g. Dr, Prof, etc.) as well as first name, family name and middle initial and a suffix (e.g. Jr, III, etc.).
The aggregated concept PointOfTime specifies a point of time consisting of a date and a daytime.
The Position aggregated concept brings together the information needed to identify an individual who has a particular role in an organisation. For example, this aggregated concept can provide the name and title of the Director of an Opera company. Position adds the notion of organisation role to the information already held in the PersonName aggregated concept.
The Price aggregated concept specifies the price of a tourism service as a price range and price exceptions. The Price concept is intended to specify a basic price of a tourism service but not a precise price structure, depending on person type, booking period, length of stay, etc.
The PriceRange aggregated concept includes the information needed to ascertain the cost of access to, or participation in, a tourism offering. This includes support for two levels of pricing (Max and Min), and a description of the criterion that controls which price is to be quoted (e.g. the days of the week when lower prices apply). It also allows a validity period to be established, during which the price applies, and zero or more discounts which may be available (e.g. for students, older people, groups, etc.).
The Profile aggregated concept is used to hold multiple attribute-value pairs which characterise a tourism resource or offering. These may be at accommodation, room or other level, depending on the parent concept. The profile consists of multiple profileField concepts.
The ProfileField Aggregated Concept is a simple attribute-value pair construct. It links a profile field to a value. Thus, on an accommodation level, it might link the number of rooms with a shower, to an integer value, to indicated that an accommodation has (say) 39 rooms with a shower. On a unit level, it might indicate that a room is wheelchair-accessible. Lists of profile values are available, at the accommodation and unit level, in Appendix A.
The ReferencePoint aggregated concept aggregates the information needed to identify a particular geographical point. Such a point may be a railway station, an accommodation, an Event location, a natural feature, etc. Reference points are widely used in the AccessDirections to an accommodation, for example. A ReferencePoint consists of a name, a description and an XY (latitude, longitude, altitude) triplet.
The ReferencedValue aggregated concept contains a value and the name of the domain the value is defined in.
This aggregated concept aggregates information about a service. Such a construct is useful in different tourism domains, e.g. accommodation or gastronomy. Services may be associated with an accommodation, or with a single unit within an accommodation, or have some other, non-accommodation scope. This is reflected in the Extent property. Services may be available to all, or may be restricted to certain categories of user (e.g. golf course available only to penthouse guests). A service can be expected to have a certain duration, or a cost-per-hour. In contrast, a facility typically has no duration and no additional cost per hour. For example, a television in the bedroom is a facility – it is available 24 hours and the cost of watching the television is included in the room rate. A golf lesson is a service – it takes two hours, and costs an additional 60 euro. Lists of unit and accommodation services are provided in Appendix A.
The StreetAddress aggregated concept contains all the street information pertinent to an address – the street name and the house number.
The SupportAgency aggregated concept is a body (often third party) which is responsible for providing supplemental services to the consumers of tourism offerings. A typical example is an agency which issues tickets to an event which it has not organized itself. The associated Organisation aggregated concept provides telephone, email and other coordinates for using the support service. It is to be expected that the support agency service will be available only at certain hours or on certain days (e.g. closed Sunday) – the Timeline provides information about when to make contact with the Organisation. Many support agencies charge a handling or other fee for their services; this is in addition to the cost of the offering being supported. This is specified in the Price concept. Finally, the manner in which payment can be made is listed in the PaymentMode concept. This is of particular relevance if using the service over the Internet, or by telephone, where credit card payment can be essential.
The TelecomNumber aggregated concept contains all the primitive concepts needed to contact an individual or organisation by telephone or fax.
The Telecoms aggregated concept brings together the information needed to make contact with an individual or organisation by telephone, fax, email or messenger services as well as the information needed to access information about an individual or organisation on the Web.
This aggregated concept represents a single minute in the day. The maximum values for hour and minute are 23 and 59, respectively.
This aggregated concept represents a period of certain duration, expressed in hours and minutes. There is no maximum value for the hour element; the maximum value for minute is 59.
The Timeline aggregated concept represents a complex timeline, e.g. the opening times of an accommodation, an event, a restaurant, etc. By using the various aggregated concepts outlined above, it specifies the dates and days when the resource is open, and the times of day when access to the resource can be gained (e.g. Reception opening hours). It reflects the complexity of time models by also including a free-text Exceptions element, which can be used to explain any unusual deviations from the Timeline.
This aggregated concept represents a title, e.g. of an event, consisting of a main title and a sub title, both multi-language text fields.
This aggregated concept contains a transportation method and corresponding transportation costs for a specific transportation, e.g. from one reference point (accommodation, attraction, etc.) to another.
The unit is the offering element which is acquired by an end user. Typically, this will be a room in a hotel, a pitch in a camping-site, a holiday apartment, etc. For communal accommodation (gite, hostel), the unit is a bed. Each unit has its own pricing model, which reflects its type and its facilities. Each unit has its own profile – this collection of attribute-value pairs describes the relevant properties of the unit. For a camping pitch, this may include its terrain, its area and the availability of an electricity point. For a suite, it may include the number of rooms, whether a four-poster bed is available, etc.
The XY aggregated concept contains information regarding the position of a location, which is the subject of an Address or Reference Point. The position is described in terms of latitude and longitude. In addition, the altitude of the location is provided, if relevant (e.g. for a ski resort). The XY aggregated concept is valuable for GPS-based navigation systems, and to support non-proprietary and international notions of position.
Identifies the location, event, or offering towards which the access directions give guidance
describes the building where the site is to be found. One or more of a set of values, provided in the ontology.
indicates what discounts are typically available on a PriceRange. These indicate the notion of 'student discounts available, special prices for children, etc.
Describes the overall environment of a location, such as whether it is central to a city, beside a lake, etc. A number of possible values is provided in the Ontology value domains
The cuisine in which a Gastro specialises
The type of gastro : a pub, a restaurant, a cafe, etc.
string (the image which the user clicks on)
This higher-level concept aggregates information about legal identification of accommodation sites. This includes identifiers such as the SIRET, APE and RCS identifiers. The higher-level concept reflects the reality that there may be more than one legal identifier and that there may also be a need for additional text.
describes the relationship between the linking and the linked entities (e.g. sister hotel, member-of, etc.)
Links the person back to his organisation.
cost of participation in an event. May be different to the cost of attending/viewing an event
A field in the profile. This could be, for an accommodation site, the number of rooms with a shower. For a room, it could be whether smoking is permitted, etc.
optional, one of high season, middle season, low season, holy week, summer months, public holiday, Christmas/New Year, Local festival
Unique HarmoTen name identifying supplier Actor
one of a defined value domain (room, tent pitch, apartment, etc)
this info must be changed each time the ontology is updated. The maintaining of the version info is MANUAL. Version info is of form a.b.c.d where d is the build number and a and b indicate major changes to the ontology