Visual Scene Ontology (VSO)
TBox for VSON v1.2: the entity taxonomy, the frame layer, the reification node classes, and the closed value vocabularies the SHACL shapes validate against.
OWL 2 RL-checkable TBox; eight bridge properties are intentionally untyped rdf:Property to admit mixed literal/IRI/quoted-triple objects, placing the full graph outside OWL 2 DL. DOLCE-inspired. Companion to VSV vocabulary and VSON-S shapes.
yamancan (2026). Visual Scene Ontology Notation (VSON), release 1.3.0. https://github.com/yamancan/visual-scene-ontology (CITATION.cff)
Entity
Top of the VSO entity taxonomy.
Endurant
Persists through time (DOLCE).
Perdurant
Occurs in time (DOLCE).
Quality
A property bearer (color, mood, weight).
Region
A space or interval (positions, times, zones).
PhysicalObject
A bounded, countable material thing: person, animal, artifact, plant.
Aggregate
Crowd, swarm, forest.
Substance
Mass nouns: water, smoke, blood.
Event
Punctual / completable occurrence.
Process
Durative occurrence.
Stative
Gaze, hold, wear, believe — static condition.
Frame
Perspectival or organizational layer; not part of the depicted world.
SceneContext
Setting of the scene: venue, atmosphere, time of day, weather.
VisualStyle
How the scene is rendered: aesthetic, palette, medium.
CameraView
The vantage point the scene is seen from; the viewer a directional SpatialFact is relative to.
Composition
Mereological root for a scene.
Persona
Cross-document identity carrier. Links scene Entities (via vso:embodies) to stable identity invariants (via vso:hasInvariant). Persona IRIs MAY be shared across multiple VSON documents.
SpatialFact
Reified spatial relation between figure and ground; topological (RCC-8) and/or directional (with mandatory viewer) and/or proximal.
Negation
Reified negation of an RDF-star quoted triple.
Quantification
Reified quantified statement: a quantifier lexeme, a bound variable, an optional domain restriction, and a scope.
BeliefState
Reified propositional attitude.
IndividuationKind
Closed axis of individuation: Generic | Named | Kind | Skolem.
Generic
An unnamed instance of a class — 'a knight', not a particular knight tracked across scenes.
Named
A specific individual bearing a proper name (Alice, Excalibur).
Kind
The class itself rather than any instance of it — reference to horses as a kind.
Skolem
A particular but unnamed individual, tracked within the document by a minted handle.
AnimacyKind
Closed axis of animacy: Agentive | Inert.
Agentive
An agent — human, animal, or animated mechanism — capable of initiating action.
Inert
Inanimate matter: furniture, vegetation, weapons at rest.
CountabilityKind
Closed axis of countability: Count | Mass | Collective.
Count
An individuable thing that can be counted one by one.
Mass
An uncountable substance measured rather than counted; the countability of vso:Substance.
Collective
A plurality carried on one node rather than enumerated; the countability of vso:Aggregate.
Affordance
Affordance an Endurant offers (Holdable, Wearable, Mountable, Container, Edible).
Holdable
Can be grasped and carried in the hand.
Wearable
Can be worn on the body.
Mountable
Can be climbed onto, sat on, or ridden.
Container
Can hold other things inside it.
Edible
Can be eaten or drunk.
individuation
How the Entity is individuated; exactly one vso:IndividuationKind per Entity.
animacy
Whether the Entity is agentive or inert; exactly one vso:AnimacyKind per Entity.
countability
Whether the Entity is counted, measured, or collective; exactly one vso:CountabilityKind per Entity.
affordance
An affordance the Endurant offers; unlike the other trait axes this one is non-functional (zero or more per Endurant).
framedBy
Attaches a Frame node (context, style, camera, persona) to the Composition it frames.
depicts
An Entity shown in the Composition; a Composition must depict at least one.
viewedBy
The CameraView the Composition is seen from.
rendersAs
The VisualStyle the Composition is rendered in.
hasFact
Attaches a reification node (SpatialFact, Negation, BeliefState, Quantification, Annotation) to a Composition. Use vso:depicts only for vso:Entity targets.
occurs
Events / Processes / Statives observed within this composition; producers MAY also use vso:depicts for perdurants, and both forms are conformant.
QualityBearer
Anything that may bear a vso:Quality: an Entity (contingent qualities) or a Composition (compositional qualities such as Layout/Focal).
hasQuality
Attaches a contingent, per-scene Quality to an Entity or a Composition.
dimension
Which axis a Quality measures (Color, Affect, Role, ...); exactly one per Quality.
value
The reading of a Quality on its dimension; deliberately untyped so a string, a number, or an IRI are all admissible (see the Profile status note at the top of this file).
modifier
Optional adverbial modifier on a Quality (e.g., 'dark' on Color, 'very' on Weight). Snake_case bareword. Cardinality 0..1; SHACL-enforced via vss:QualityModifierShape (relaxed; absence is normal).
class
Domain-class designation from the open class registry (Knight, Crown, Sword, Woman, Apple, ...). Open vocabulary. Values typically IRIs in the document namespace when emitted from bareword input; xsd:string literals also conformant. Range intentionally unconstrained.
embodies
Entity embodies (instantiates) a Persona in this scene. The Persona's vso:hasInvariant Qualities are stable identity facts shared across embodiments.
hasInvariant
Invariant Quality of the Persona — stable across embodiments (hair color, build, etc.). Contrast with vso:hasQuality which is contingent per scene.
Dimension
Registry of Quality dimensions. CLOSED under the VSO namespace: the admissible values of vso:dimension in this namespace are exactly the vso:Dimension individuals declared in this file, and any other w3id.org/vson IRI in that slot is an orphan VSO term — non-conformant under clause C2 (docs/vson.md §2). A producer needing a further dimension MUST mint it under its own document namespace, never under vso:.
Color
Perceived colour of the bearer.
Weight
Heaviness of the bearer, as read off the scene rather than measured.
Material
What the bearer is made of (stone, silk, iron).
Affect
Mood or emotional state attributed to the bearer.
Age
Age of the bearer, as a number of years or an age band.
Role
Social or narrative role the bearer occupies in the scene (queen, knight).
Size
Relative size of the bearer.
Enchantment
Magical or supernatural property attributed to the bearer.
ActionState
Transient action phase of an Entity (drawn, raised, running).
Layout
Compositional dimension: how the scene is arranged; borne by a Composition.
Focal
Compositional dimension: what the scene draws attention to; borne by a Composition.
Amount
How much of the bearer there is, for Substances and Aggregates read as quantity rather than count.
Hair
Hair of the bearer, as colour or length (auburn, black_short); a common Persona invariant.
Hairstyle
Cut or styling of the bearer's hair (bob, braided, ponytail), as distinct from its colour or length.
Skin
Skin tone or complexion of the bearer; a common Persona invariant.
Eye
Eye colour of the bearer; a common Persona invariant.
Eyewear
Eyewear the bearer is wearing (sunglasses, round_frames).
Headwear
Headwear the bearer is wearing (beanie, wide_brim_hat).
Outfit
The garment or ensemble the bearer is wearing, read as a whole (trench_coat, three_piece_suit).
Fit
How the bearer's garment sits on the body (oversized, tailored, cropped).
Pose
Bodily posture of the bearer.
agent
Volitional doer of an Event or Process.
patient
Entity affected or changed by an Event.
theme
Entity standing in the relation or state without being changed by it.
instrument
Means or tool the Event is carried out with.
recipient
Goal-receiver in a transfer Event.
source
Origin the transfer or motion starts from.
goal
Target or destination the Event or Process is directed at.
beneficiary
Entity for whose benefit the Event is performed.
experiencer
Sentient Endurant holding a cognitive or perceptual Stative.
stimulus
What the experiencer of a Stative is oriented toward.
location
Where the perdurant takes place.
time
When the perdurant takes place; untyped so an interval IRI or a literal time expression are both admissible.
manner
Adverbial manner of the perdurant, a snake_case bareword (swift, careful, forceful).
cause
Perdurant that brought this one about, recorded as a role on the caused perdurant.
result
State or entity the Event brings into being.
lemma
Bare snake_case verb naming the perdurant (e.g. 'strike', 'look_at'); frame-index suffixes such as PropBank's '-01' are not used.
holder
Possessor in a hold / wear / own Stative.
holds
The subject has the object in hand or grip at the depicted moment.
wears
The subject has the object on its body as clothing, armour, or ornament.
owns
The subject possesses the object independently of the depicted moment.
carries
The subject bears the object along with it, not necessarily in hand.
partOf
The subject is a part of the object; transitive, inverse of vso:hasPart.
hasPart
The object is a part of the subject; transitive, inverse of vso:partOf.
properPartOf
The subject is a part of the object and not identical to it; a sub-property of vso:partOf, and irreflexive.
overlaps
The two entities share at least one part; symmetric.
disjoint
The two entities share no part; symmetric.
Direction
Closed set of frame-relative directional values (values of vso:directional).
above
The figure is higher than the ground in the viewer's frame.
below
The figure is lower than the ground in the viewer's frame.
left_of
The figure is to the viewer's left of the ground.
right_of
The figure is to the viewer's right of the ground.
in_front_of
The figure is nearer to the viewer than the ground is.
behind
The figure is further from the viewer than the ground is.
ProximityKind
Closed set of proximity values (values of vso:proximal).
near
The figure is close to the ground relative to the scale of the scene.
far
The figure is distant from the ground relative to the scale of the scene.
adjacent
The figure is immediately beside the ground, with nothing between them.
next_to
The figure is beside the ground, without the no-gap reading vso:adjacent asserts.
facing
The figure is turned toward the ground.
figure
The entity being located by the SpatialFact; exactly one per fact.
ground
The entity the figure is located against; exactly one per fact.
rcc
Topological reading of the fact, valued by one of the eight rcc:Relation individuals.
directional
Frame-relative reading of the fact, valued by a vso:Direction; requires a vso:viewer.
proximal
Distance reading of the fact, valued by a vso:ProximityKind.
viewer
The CameraView a directional reading is relative to; mandatory whenever vso:directional is present.
causes
The subject perdurant brings the object perdurant about.
enables
The subject perdurant makes the object perdurant possible without bringing it about.
prevents
The subject perdurant keeps the object perdurant from occurring.
triggers
The subject perdurant sets the object perdurant off immediately.
believes
Links an Endurant to the BeliefState holding what it takes to be true.
intends
Links an Endurant to the BeliefState holding what it aims to bring about.
perceives
Links an Endurant to the BeliefState holding what it senses.
proposition
The proposition that is believed/intended/perceived. Range is an RDF-star quoted triple in canonical Turtle 1.2 form, OR a vso:Annotation reified node (RDF 1.1 portable) — both forms are conformant per spec §18.
negatedStatement
The negated proposition. Range is an RDF-star quoted triple OR a vso:Annotation reified node (same dual-form policy as vso:proposition).
quantifier
Quantifier lexeme. Closed list: 'all', 'every', 'some', 'no', 'most', 'few'. Stored as snake_case xsd:string.
variable
Variable name bound by the quantifier (e.g. 'x', 'horse'). Plain xsd:string token; appears as the subject in scope/domain triples.
qDomain
Optional domain restriction. Range is an RDF-star quoted triple OR a vso:Annotation reified node (same dual-form policy).
scope
The proposition predicated of the bound variable. Range is an RDF-star quoted triple OR a vso:Annotation reified node.
bbox2d
Bounding box in normalized image coordinates as 'x,y,w,h', every component in [0,1].
position3d
World position 'x,y,z'.
scale3d
World scale 'sx,sy,sz'.
rotation
Quaternion 'qx,qy,qz,qw' or Euler 'rx,ry,rz'.
occludes
The subject stands in front of the object and hides part of it from the viewer.
visibleFraction
Fraction of the entity still visible after occlusion, in [0,1].
angle
Vertical camera attitude: eye_level, low, high, dutch, top_down, worms_eye.
focalLength
Lens focal length as a 35mm-equivalent string ('24mm', '85mm') or a bare number of millimetres.
framing
Shot size: extreme_close_up, close_up, medium_shot, wide_shot, extreme_wide_shot.
lookAt
Reserved; not used by any shipped syntax or example.
cameraPosition
Free-form positional cue for the camera ('front_left_dolly', 'overhead').
aesthetic
Overall visual idiom of the rendering (photographic, oil_painting, anime, noir, ...).
palette
Dominant colour treatment (warm, cool, monochrome, pastel, neon, ...).
medium
Physical or digital carrier of the image (photograph, canvas, paper, digital, fresco, ...).
venue
Where the scene is set, as a snake_case noun (throne_room, marketplace, forest_path); open vocabulary.
atmosphere
Emotional register of the setting (tense, calm, somber, festive, ominous, ...).
timeOfDay
Time of day the scene is set at (dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, dusk, night).
weather
Weather of the setting (clear, cloudy, rain, snow, fog, storm, indoor).
Annotation
Reified annotation of a triple. Equivalent to an RDF-star quoted triple.
annotatedSubject
Subject of the triple this Annotation is about.
annotatedPredicate
Predicate of the triple this Annotation is about.
annotatedObject
Object of the triple this Annotation is about.
probability
Probability in [0,1] that the annotated triple holds.
confidence
Producer's confidence in [0,1] in the annotated triple.
RCC-8 spatial topology
The 8 RCC-8 base relation names as a closed value vocabulary for vso:rcc; JEPD holds in the intended interpretation; composition-table reasoning is out of scope.
Relation
Class of the eight RCC-8 base relation values; its instances are the admissible objects of vso:rcc on a vso:SpatialFact.
Disconnected: the two regions share no points at all.
Externally connected: the regions touch along their boundaries but their interiors do not overlap.
Partial overlap: the regions share interior points, yet neither is a part of the other.
Equal: the two regions occupy exactly the same points.
TPP
Tangential proper part: the figure is a proper part of the ground and the two boundaries touch.
NTPP
Non-tangential proper part: the figure lies wholly inside the ground without their boundaries touching.
TPPi
Inverse of TPP: the ground is a tangential proper part of the figure.
NTPPi
Inverse of NTPP: the ground is a non-tangential proper part of the figure.
Allen interval algebra
Allen's 13 base relations on time intervals, declared as object properties between vso:Perdurant nodes, with inverses and the transitive members of the algebra.
before
X ends before Y begins, with a gap between them.
after
X begins after Y ends, with a gap between them (inverse of allen:before).
meets
X ends exactly where Y begins, with no gap and no overlap.
metBy
X begins exactly where Y ends, with no gap and no overlap (inverse of allen:meets).
X begins before Y, the two share a stretch of time, and X ends before Y ends.
overlappedBy
Y begins before X, the two share a stretch of time, and Y ends before X ends (inverse of allen:overlaps).
starts
X and Y begin at the same instant and X ends before Y ends.
startedBy
X and Y begin at the same instant and Y ends before X ends (inverse of allen:starts).
during
X begins after Y begins and ends before Y ends, so X falls strictly inside Y.
contains
Y falls strictly inside X: X begins before Y begins and ends after Y ends (inverse of allen:during).
finishes
X and Y end at the same instant and X begins after Y begins.
finishedBy
X and Y end at the same instant and Y begins after X begins (inverse of allen:finishes).
equals
X and Y begin at the same instant and end at the same instant.