Explore the model

Learn the distinctions that make property information usable: which subject, role, quantity, time, claim or meaning are we actually describing? Start with the question on your desk.

A model is easier to inspect when every statement has something recognisable behind it. “This report describes that inspection of Flat 1” is an account of a situation, not a diagramming exercise. The chapters here help you ask what the account preserves and what a reader would have to guess.

You do not need to work through them in order. If you are comparing two floor areas, begin with measurements. If a choice list is causing confusion, begin with names and choices. Each chapter supplies the facts its worked cases need and makes the reasoning visible.

The same situation invites different questions

A dwelling is something we identify. A report is itself an identifiable thing, a description and potentially evidence. A review decision says what happened to a proposal, not whether the dwelling's condition is true. These are perspectives on statements, not mutually exclusive boxes into which every object must fit.

The useful habit is to name the aspect you mean. A corrected report can change the available evidence without changing the inspection event. A role can change in one arrangement while the same person participates differently in another. A model makes those distinctions explicit enough to inspect.

Find the distinction you need

• Things, identities and relationships

  What exactly is being described? Separate a dwelling from its building, address and documents; read the meaning and direction of a connection.

• People, roles and change

  Who participates, in which arrangement? Compare multiple roles, listing states, report corrections and new events.

• Measurements, amounts and values

  What does the number mean? Explain an area inclusion difference and distinguish an asking price, transaction price and valuation opinion.

• Dates, periods and applicability

  What does the date locate? Keep an event's occurrence separate from document issue, recording and a statement's applicability.

• Claims, evidence and uncertainty

  What supports the statement? Follow sources and distinguish missing, unknown, inapplicable, withheld, negative and conflicting information.

• Names, choices and classification

  What do the words and choices mean? Inspect labels, definitions, closed lists, topics and independent facets.

• Connect meanings across contexts

  Where does meaning belong? Use the established semantic homes and test what a proposed correspondence preserves or loses.

• Rules, requirements and exceptions

  When does a requirement apply? Distinguish an unmet requirement from a bad rule or missing evidence.

• Sensitivity, purpose and permissions

  Which handling distinctions matter? Separate participation, purpose and scoped permission descriptions from downstream enforcement.

Read a connection as a sentence

“Flat 1 — report version 2” makes the reader guess. “Report version 2 describes the inspection concerning Flat 1” names the report, event and dwelling and says how they connect. Now ask what else the statement needs: a source, period, measurement basis or arrangement?

Use the explanation, then put it to work

The cases are fictional teaching accounts, with explicit premises and visible answers. Some support a definite conclusion; others deliberately leave an evidence gap. They are not candidate implementation claims or professional rules. Formal representation choices remain in Ontology modelling, and terminology has one home in the canonical glossary.

Already reviewing material? Review and contribute turns these distinctions into definition, diagram, evidence, vocabulary and rule reviews. To see how the different views fit one agreement first, read What we are building.