Sorts: a concept for representational flexibility

This work is based on the recognition that there will always be a need for different representations of the same entity, albeit a building or building part, a shape or other complex attribute. This exigency ensues, formally, to define the relations between alternative representations, in order to support translation and identify where exact translation is possible, and to define coverage of different representations. We consider an abstraction of representations to model sorts that allows us to define algebraic operations on sorts and recognize algebraic relationships between sorts, providing us with a method for the analysis of representations, and the comparison of their coverage. We present the basis of support for a multi-representational environment. 1