LANDSCAPE INFORMATION MODELLING: AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF BIM MODELLING, EXAMPLES OF CUBATURE, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND PLANNING PROJECTS

Abstract

Land Information Modelling (LIM), increasingly popular among landscape architects and urban planners, is based on the use of urban space data that can be obtained from GIS systems. New models of buildings are simultaneously developed in BIM technology. This provokes an increasing need for integration of data from both areas for the use of shared BIM and GIS data in landscape design. The increasing popularity of the BIM technology not only forces designers to develop BIM models of buildings but also other land management objects, including infrastructure objects. Whereas it is possible to develop a model of an infrastructure object in specific BIM tools, the IFC data model for standardised exchange of BIM data does not offer the possibility to record data on objects other than buildings and their furnishings, and elements of land management are treated in a very general way. Transferring such a model by means of the IFC model requires the application of substitute classes of objects that are not relevant to the actual image of the model. Considering the above, the buildingSMART consortium conducts works on the expansion of the IFC model to permit modelling data on infrastructure objects. Provided the availability of valid spatial data from GIS systems and data concerning infrastructure objects already at the stage of design, systemic BIM and LIM can become a powerful landscape design tool based on current data and data concerning designed objects.