Vocabulary alignment for sharing architectural conservation data

In the domain of heritage conservation much of the decision making relies on assessing risk and planning in advance. This is particularly important for built heritage where environmental conditions cannot be controlled easily and a broader range of risks must be taken into account. Risk assessment requires detailed surveys of built heritage which produce a wealth of data around the vulnerability of a building using domain expert terminology. It also requires information about environmental condition and the dangerousness of the area that the building is situated. Integrating this data within systems is essential. Further sharing this data with external audiences such as emergency services is also important. In this paper we consider guidelines developed for the Linked Conservation Data project in relation to a risk assessment system: Risk Map of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The guidelines explain how terminology data can be integrated so ensure a common language across systems or system components. We focus on terminology alignment with the Getty Arts & Architecture Thesaurus and we explore specific terms from the built heritage domain and the challenges posed by their use in different contexts.