BIM – search for information
Igor Svetel
https://doi.org/10.60152/d9q2h7tv
Abstract: The digitalization in the AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations) sector is often heralded as a revolution in the way of working. However, it turned out to be a gradual evolution of the process. An industry accustomed to monolithic representations containing all necessary data for a certain project phase has a hard time changing its habits. The first digitalization step was creating those documents using a computer. The second step is BIM technology, which has the ambition to remain the final form of digitalization in the AECO sector. The IFC scheme, which represents basis of the openBIM concept enabling connection among all BIM applications, also represents one monolithic digital model. Conceived to represent one AECO project, the IFC scheme contains all data about the single project. Additional technologies such as Data Dictionary and Data Templates, which add more data structures to the basic model, have been developed to enrich IFC. Currently, the focus in the BIM community is on models containing all the necessary data that users require. Different kinds of information requirements define what data should be included in models. Most of the effort is focused on including the data in the model, and little on how the data will be extracted from the model. The fact that well-structured data does not represent the whole information is recognized in the ISO 7817 standard, which states that when creating the Level of information need, attention should be paid to who, when, why and to what extent will use information, although it does not specify how to use these prerequisites to search for information. The paper analyzes the ways to search BIM data structures from the simplest browsing using the BIM viewer to more complex techniques. Existing proposals are considered, and original ones based on the latest BIM developments are given.
Keywords: BIM, information, browsing, query
How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):
Svetel, I. (2024) ‘BIM - search for information’, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Shaping the City through Architecture, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 165–170.