Blog 2: BIM and Interoperability

In the future of the AEC industry, program interoperability is a crucial property that has a large impact in the speed and ease of coordination and thus, construction. Interoperability is “... the ability to exchange data between applications…and for multiple applications to contribute to the work at hand.” With all of the different teams and disciplines working together to construct a building, numerous programs get used for different building tasks beyond the modeling of the structure in BIM. Interoperability is significant in order to exchange data between multiple programs, regardless of the developer.

Interoperability is also useful in automating the data exchange process. Without the interoperability, individuals have to manually copy data generated in one program, and transfer it to another. Manually transferring information leads to error and inconsistency and discourages iteration because of the time-consuming process of manually reproducing data in a new program. Furthermore, if iteration is discouraged, the design quality declines. Overall, the lack of interoperability results in a waste of time. For example without interoperability, if a lighting designer exchanged their model with the architect, with the placements of each of the fixtures and their properties, the architect would then have to manually input each of those fixtures.

The problem with interoperability in practice is the different exchange formats used by different developers. As part of their business model, BIM software developer companies limit interoperability with external programs to incentivize customers to use only the AEC software created by a specific developer. Different data modeling software model elements with different properties. Two applications can use different information and storage methods to describe the same object, leading to difficulties in transferring data between software. In an effort to standardize software and combat exchange format differences, under the ISO-STEP international standards effort and the National BIM Standard, “... data models were developed to support product and object model exchanges within different industries...” (pg. 100). The standardization aims to make specific data required for exchanges.

Developers typically offer packaged solutions to interoperability for their programs, while other software is not fully supported. For this third-party software not supported by the main vendors, 3D object exchange formats like IFC are used. The complications and complexities of data exchange for BIM software lie in the more complex nature of the data created with BIM. Instead of just a geometric shape, BIM data also contains attributes and properties for each of the elements. One exchange method being pushed is the Industry Foundation Class (IFC), a data organization type “...developed to define an extensible set of consistent data representations of building information for exchange between AEC software applications” (pg 114).

Eastman believes that “The BIM platform developers will continue to offer packaged solutions, while reliance on IFC will grow to provide workflows not well supported by the software vendors” (pg. 148). It should be noted that this handbook is already about 8 years old and, with each version, more and more data is interoperable via exchange methods like IFC and building model repositories, making complete interoperability more of a reality. In the future, companies committed to interoperability will make the complicated task of building projects more time and cost efficient.

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:

Nick,

Good point about some of the information in the Handbook being outdated; it is definitely important to recognize what has been developed in the time between this handbook was published and now. It is honestly quite amazing how much progress has been made into specific facets of BIM like interoperability in what is a rather short amount of time. From my personal experience from co-ops, it does seem that the state of interoperability has been improved in REVIT with the implementation of REVIT add-ins to help with the exchange of data. BIM repositories are an interesting alternative to the program to program exchanges. Your point on how the objects in the repository will be updated and the unknown effect the update of one object could have on another is a valid concern. I think in the future, after the objects in the repositories have been properly developed, quality tested, and troubleshot, BIM repositories will be an extremely effective method of interoperability.

Christian,

It seems that the most immediate and significant benefits of interoperability is the automation of the data exchange process between multiple programs. The amount of time and money that could be saved without having to do a manual transfer of data between two programs would greatly impact the workforce and organization of a design team since some roles could potentially be removed. I also appreciate your addressment of the proprietary and business practice issues that definitely do not help the goal of a standard for interoperability. I think the bias that developers display in their own products are slowing down the transition into full interoperability.

Tyler,

Your point that a majority of contractors do not participate in the design process and thus have little use for BIM is very interesting, and is something I have not considered. Contractors could utilize BIM to improve the design with all of the coordination, estimating and scheduling features possible with BIM software. However, with the learning curve, the program may not be used to its maximum potential, and a lot of its beneficial tools may be wasted. This would make the use of BIM for smaller contractors a potential waste of time.