IFC for Infrastructures

Users
1

Hello,

I am trying to follow the evolution of IFC for Infrastructures.

-First of all we have the information found in the BuildingSmart webpage (https://buildingsmart.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/08_bSI_OverallArchitecure_Guidelines_final.pdf)

I also know that there are initiatives which seem to have the support of local Building Smart chapters
France: MInnD national project https://www.minnd.fr/
Spain: RoadBim http://roadbim.es/en/

Apart from that, there are other intitiatives like BRIM, for Bridge modelling https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/pubs/hif16010.pdf

Are all these Groups working together (coordinated) in different aspects of IFC for Infrastructures?
Which initiative should I follow if I want to be updated in the IFC for Infrastructures?

Thanks

2

Hi,
The ongoing projects to extend IFC for infra domains are organised in the InfraRoom and RailwayRoom.
Ongoing projects are

  • IFC Road,
  • IFC Rail,
  • IFC Bridge,
  • IFC Ports & Waterways and
  • Common Schema.

The best way to stay informed is to participate in Expert panels organised at milestones in the projects.

To register for these expert panels, email:
infrastructure@buildingsmart.org

Best regards,
Karin Anderson, co-project leader, IFC Road

3

Is it possible to share the progress on these projects on this forum? It would be nice for the community to keep up to date.

4

@Moult We are working on improving communications through the Forums. But patience is appreciated as many people learn what is a significantly new mean of communication in the community.

But it is also important to remember that standards program and resulting projects are highly structured for a reason… the creation of international consensus specifications that will adopted at ISO. This is a high bar and requires more rigor and deliberate work than many “open source” projects. It is an open community, but it does require interested end users in the industry to engage these more formal processes on bSI terms.

1 Like
5

Hi Juan,

As for the standardisation of IFC as a format to be used in data exchange for infrastructure projects, Karin already mentioned ongoing work in the expert panels. Next to the mentioned topics, another project for the infra room (but not started yet, as far as I know) is the forum for “IFC Tunnel”.

I would be believe that next to the IFC topic, the general question on “how to do BIM in infrastructure projects” is also of concern and thus currently being researched. I, too, share your interest in infrastructure topics surrounding BIM. The following links (in German, though - hopefully auto-translate will be able to help you a bit?) are recently published documents by an expert panel, which were involved in prototype-projects for BIM in infrastructure in Germany. Their published work describes database concepts and defined goals for the BIM implementation, amongst others … thought, that might be of interest. Check it out: https://bim4infra.de/downloads/

Cheers

6

Thanks to everyone for the answers. Much appreciated.

Unfortunately, time allowance does not allow me to active participation in expert panels, as suggested by Karin. Having information easily accesible through the forums would be very nice indeed.

I am involved in the implementation of models of parametric precast concrete elements for geotechnical structures (retained walls, cut and cover tunnels), using Revit and customizing the IFC exporter. Geometrical definition is not an issue, What is difficult is deciding which properties should be attached to each element and its mapping to IFC, as the standard has not yet been fully defined.

7

Thanks, Robert,
I was not aware of this initiative. I will take a good look to the documentation. It is a point of concern for me to see that there is another standard (OKSTRA) and there is discussion about mapping between IFC and OKSTRA even before IFC 4,2 is fully defined…