Software based knowledge integration for seismic risk management

The paper describes the knowledge integration approaches followed during the development of the software package SEISMOCARE. The tool (the result of the evolution of a number of projects funded by E.U. and Italian National Research Bodies) supports users of different technical background active in seismic risk analysis and strengthening strategy definition and requires the integration of knowledge sources coming from various disciplines. The following knowledge integration issues are discussed: types of knowledge; how the knowledge integration requirement affected the software engineering process; technical solutions at specification, design and implementation level. The key solutions are the specification of an explicit knowledge model, a two-layer architecture (knowledge model implementation and functions exploiting the model capabilities) and the use of a GIS as implementation environment