B2 - BIM Interoperability

Interoperability is a major benefit and problem for BIM programs. The nature of a BIM model allows for tons of information and data to be modeled at once in a simple to understand format. With all this data consolidated in one location however it makes it highly desirable to be able to share that information with other programs optimized for other purposes, structural or energy analysis as an example. This presents a problem when the information within the BIM model doesn’t match or requires additional information input to be usable in another program. In other cases, it may be due to syntax or language differences between the BIM model and the other program; language differences can also be due to differences resulting from difference in industry conventions.  There are efforts under way to try to establish a standard format for providing data such as the National BIM Standards (NBIMS), but despite these efforts differences in programs still require significant manual input. Greater manual input nullifies the benefits of being able to transfer data from one model to another, ideally this need for manual input would be eliminated altogether. Sometimes there are also proprietary barriers to interoperability, consider Bentley’s Microstation and Autodesk’s AutoCAD programs, both are very similar, but they can’t communicate with each other easily. This is due to business, it’s not in either company’s interest to make their products interoperable with their competitors. While AutoCAD and Microstation are not BIM products, the same principle applies to programs that are used for BIM. As an example, Revit (an Autodesk product) doesn’t interact well with SketchUp, from a business standpoint this is to be expected because Autodesk wants users to buy FormIt, effectively their version of SketchUp, which works seamlessly with Revit and is explicitly optimized for such. Even for the most optimized BIM interoperability platforms there’s still an issue with inconsistencies between models. A change in one model isn’t necessarily translated to other models which were made using the previous models. The many problems with interoperability remain as the greatest barrier between major automation of project workflows, but these issues are slowly being addressed.

Sources:

Eastman, Charles M. BIM Handbook : A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers,Designers, Engineers and Contractors. Vol. 2nd ed, Wiley, 2011. EBSCOhost,        ezproxy2.library.drexel.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db= nlebk&AN=364239&site=ehost-live.

Comments on Other Posts:

Albert, this summary was very insightful, I’ve worked with many different parametric design programs but I’ve never known the history of these programs and how they came into their modern forms. I’m curious to know more about how the two different systems were combined, and were any benefits of each system lost in this combination.

Gabe, what you’ve mentioned in regards to learning the differences and similarities between Revit and Inventor is something I’m quite familiar with, this brings back memories from high school. I started learning Inventor back in 9^th grade, and later in 12^th grade started learning Revit. One of my first thoughts was of how the program allows me to work on a plan like in AutoCAD but it would fully model like I was working in Inventor. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but together they can very powerful tools for design.