generalise "cavity"

[pbuttigieg]

@cmungall UBERON has a useful cavity class which could help ENVO work with caves (#5) , ballast tanks (#445), and the like. Could this be generalised beyond anatomy in ENVO or another target?

[cmungall]

The uberon class itself must of course retain its anatomical context; we could make a very general cavity at the BFO level. Or we could just analogize directly into ENVO FWIW I'm not sure the distinction between "cavity" and "anatomical space" is so useful. I would just go with a general "environmental space" or similar and concentrate on axiomatizing the particular classes in terms of how bounded they are etc, rather than worrying about asserting into a quite abstract definition. By analogize, something like: `def:` __Anatomical space which contains portions of one or more body substances and is bounded by the internal surface of one maximally connected anatomical structure. Examples: cranial cavity, pharyngeal recess space, nasal cavity, tooth socket, cavity of serous sac, lumen of stomach, lumen of artery, fornix of vagina.__ `[FMA:67552]` ==> _Environmental_ space which contains portions of one or more _environmental_ substances (air, water, etc) and is bounded by the internal surface of one maximally connected _environmental_ structure But this is IMHO weird. How do we evaluate maximally connected for environments? With bodies we have distinct tissue layers. For something like a cave, is it really bounded by 1 maximally connected structure? in some cases it may be composed of different strata etc This is why I'd go with the more straightforward 'space', or maybe '(partially) eclosed space'