8/6/2014 Understanding Industry Foundation Classes | BIM Journal

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BIM
Journal Improving the construction process
6 August 2014
Understanding Industry Foundation Classes
- ISSUE27 - ARTICLE2
October 23, 2012 by Editor BIM Journal
Open is the key to the real value of buildingSMART standards. Industry
Foundation Classes (IFC) can be used to exchange and share BIM data
between applications developed by different software vendors without the
software having to support numerous native formats. As an open format,
IFC does not belong to a single software vendor; it is neutral and
independent of a particular vendors plans for software development.
Every implementation of an IFC exchange should follow what is known as
an exchange requirement. This requirement specifies the information
that needs to be present in an exchange or sharing of data at a certain
stage in a project. It is important to be specific about the information
needed. The exchange requirement prevents woolliness and uncertainty.
How can designers and other software users be sure that the software in
use is compliant with the open IFC standard and truly interoperable?
buildingSMART run a certification schemes that test software products to
check that they meet the IFC standard and clarifies the scope of their
interoperability. The scheme was revamped in 2010 to make it more
stringent and indicates precisely what parts of the product work
interoperably.
IFC development is faced with various challenges; such as, providing a
data structure that is able to fulfill the information requirements of
specialized disciplines, as well as supporting the implementation of a
data structure that exceeds the scope of typical domain specific design
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applications. Interoperability is further challenged by the need for
standards that are flexible enough to translate between different cultural
backgrounds and languages.
Overview of the IFC development Process
In general, in order to share information, the following three
specifications should be in place.
1. An exchange format, defining HOW to share the information. The
IFC is such a specification.
2. A Reference Library, to define WHAT information we are sharing.
The International Framework of Dictionaries (IFD) serves such a
purpose.
3. Information Requirements, defining WHICH Information to share
WHEN. The Information Delivery Model (IDM)/Model View
Definitions (MVD) approach forms that specification.
The specifications supporting the IFC development have to be defined
according to the needs of the involved users. The development of the IFC
address four main areas
- Business requirement specification
- IFC extension modeling
- Use case implementation
- End user guidance
The IFC development process, in the above order, starts with the
requirements and ends with users guidelines.
The need for additional standards
The IFC data model is comprehensive , supporting a wide range of data
to be transferred. The IFC allows for various data to be exchanged in
various ways, without losing any information. But downstream users
usually require specific information that is usually a subset of the
Information stored in the IFC. These users would prefer to receive
specifically the data they need, rather than the entire data model. The IFC,
however, does not capture the methods in which data is created and
shared by users. The lack of specific data exchange requirements for
different users, also makes it difficult to implement solutions to this
problem.
Link to Article 3 (Understanding buildingSMART Standards):
http://www.bimjournal.com/2012/10/understanding-buildingsmart-
standards/

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