Abstract
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a complete, wide and complex open standard data model to represent Building Information Models. Big efforts are being made by the standardization organization buildingSMART, to develop and maintain this standard in collaboration with researchers, companies and institutions. However, when trying to use IFC models from practice for automatic analysis, some issues emerge, as a consequence of a misalignment between what is prescribed by, or available in, the standard with the data sets that are produced in practice. In this study, a sample of models produced by practitioners for aims different from their explicit use within automatic processing tools is inspected and analyzed. The aim is to find common patterns in data set from practice and their possible discrepancies with the standard, in order to find ways to address such discrepancies in a next step. In particular, it is noticeable that the overall quality of the models requires specific additional care by the modellers before relying on them for automatic analysis, and a high level of variability is present concerning the storage of some relevant information (such as georeferencing).
Highlights
Sci. 2021, 11, 2232. https://doi.org/Interoperability is a key feature for data to be exchanged andused in newgeneration applications for the planning, building, analysis and management of cities, as well as for collaboration and communication
We can notice that most of the models were produced in the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) version 2x3—Model View Definition CoordinationView
2.0, at least until 2020, when some models were provided in IFC v.4—Model View Definition ’DesignTransfer View’
Summary
Interoperability is a key feature for data to be exchanged and (re)used in newgeneration applications for the planning, building, analysis and management of cities, as well as for collaboration and communication. Among such data, an important source of information about the built environment are Building Information Models (BIMs). An important source of information about the built environment are Building Information Models (BIMs) They were developed in the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) field approximately from the 1980s, as an evolution of Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools, and have become more popular during the last 20 years, with the development of cheaper and more powerful computers, and more effective tools to model and manage BIMs. The original scope of such (often 3D) information systems is to support a building’s design and construction. Current BIM models are supposed to be useful for much more than this narrow purpose, representing a central platform for collaboration during the design phase of a building (architectural design, structural design, installations design, etc.), supporting coordination between disciplines and analysis of the designed building within the same modelling tool or within compatible ones, and once built, being a base data set that can be reused and maintained to support the asset and facility management of the modelled object.
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