Altering the SightPlan knowledge-based systems

Abstract

SightPlan refers to several knowledge-based systems that address construction site layout. Five different versions were implemented and their components of expertise are described here. These systems are alterations of one another, differing either in the problems they solve, the problem-solving methods they apply, or the tasks they address. Because they share either control knowledge, domain concepts, or heuristics, and such knowledge is implemented in well-defined modular knowledge bases, these systems could easily re-use parts of one another. Experiments like those presented here may clarify the role played by different types of knowledge during problem solving, enabling researchers to gain a broader understanding of the generality of the domain and task knowledge that is embedded in KBSs and of the power of their systems.