E46 Section Definition in Version 4.1

This class comprises areas of objects referred to in terms specific to the general geometry or structure of its kind.

The 'prow' of the boat, the 'frame' of the picture, the 'front' of the building are all instances of E46 Section Definition. The class highlights the fact that parts of objects can be treated as locations. This holds in particular for features without natural boundaries, such as the “head” of a marble statue made out of one block (cf. E53 Place). In answer to the question 'where is the signature?' one might reply 'on the lower left corner'. (Section Definition is closely related to the term “segment” in Gerstl, P.& Pribbenow, S, 1996 “ A conceptual theory of part – whole relations and its applications”, Data & Knowledge Engineering 20 305-322, North Holland- Elsevier ).