# Relation ship about IFC & COBIE

**URL:** <https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478>\
**Category:** Users\
**Created:** [June 6, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478 "2019-06-06T16:26:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pilarjimenez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/pilarjimenez/32/407_2.png) [@pilarjimenez](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/pilarjimenez)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/1 "2019-06-06T16:26:02Z")

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Hello all

Is there any document or better, any excel showing the relation between IFC 4 Add2 TC1 and COBie?

Some people in my team think we have to create propeties for COBie but I’m not sure this is true.

Thank you in advance

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**Author:** ![ReD\_CoDE](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/red_code/32/226_2.png) [@ReD\_CoDE](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/ReD_CoDE)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/2 "2019-06-06T17:07:18Z")

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Hi Pilar,

It seems that my post caused some think about

> **[Ehsan Azari on LinkedIn: "Have you seen COBie 10?

This is COBie 10...](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6542092093693665282)**
>
> June 5, 2019: Ehsan Azari posted images on LinkedIn

There’s not but you can develop your COBie MVD or whatever you want name it based on NBIMS V3 COBie document and IfcDoc or IFC Servers

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**Author:** ![jonm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/jonm/32/16_2.png) [@jonm](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/jonm)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2019, 6:11am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/3 "2019-06-07T06:11:58Z")

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I’m not sure if a mvdxml has been authored for COBie, if it doesn’t it should be created.

You’ll find some guidance here: [http://www.buildingsmart-tech.org/specifications/ifc-view-definition/fm-handover-aquarium/fm-basic-handover](http://www.buildingsmart-tech.org/specifications/ifc-view-definition/fm-handover-aquarium/fm-basic-handover)

I also have a spreadsheet nominating IFC2x3 or IFC4 attribute or property related to each COBie attribute but I can’t find where it is officially provided anywhere.

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**Author:** ![pilarjimenez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/pilarjimenez/32/407_2.png) [@pilarjimenez](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/pilarjimenez)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:21am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/4 "2019-06-10T06:21:53Z")

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Thank you jonm.

Can you share with me this excel with the relation?

[maria.abos@ineco.com](mailto:maria.abos@ineco.com)

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**Author:** ![ReD\_CoDE](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/red_code/32/226_2.png) [@ReD\_CoDE](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/ReD_CoDE)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 6:52am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/5 "2019-06-10T06:52:44Z")

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Inside the COBie 2.4 spreadsheet/template you can see IFC relationships inside the “ExtObject” columns.

 ![4](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/buildingsmart1/original/1X/ee3cb41f4f0f53aaca58186d3cd4081e71ecce45.png)

However, COBie 2.4 was developed based on IFC2X3 and you have to upgrade or update it for IFC4

Other efforts mostly have focused on mvdXML version of COBie, which you can find a draft version in [https://ifcwebserver.org](https://ifcwebserver.org)

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**Author:** ![jonm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/jonm/32/16_2.png) [@jonm](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/jonm)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 7:57am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/6 "2019-06-10T07:57:30Z")

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I found the spreadsheet. Check this page, [https://www.nibs.org/page/bsa\_cobiemm](https://www.nibs.org/page/bsa_cobiemm) and the link COBie Responsibility Matrix.

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**Author:** ![pilarjimenez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/pilarjimenez/32/407_2.png) [@pilarjimenez](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/pilarjimenez)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 8:49am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/7 "2019-06-10T08:49:19Z")

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Great post Ehsan. I had not read It yet but It fits perfectly on what im asking.

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**Author:** ![pilarjimenez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/pilarjimenez/32/407_2.png) [@pilarjimenez](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/pilarjimenez)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:00am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/8 "2019-06-10T09:00:57Z")

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Thank you Jonm.

My main problem at this moment is the link you are sharing with me its not pointing todo building Smart but to an other part. Besides, it seems not being based on IFC 4 Add2 TC1…

Im sure you understand… If my own tic departament ior other tic bim software developers do not have the building Smart validation, they are not going to put me enough attention…

Please, can you get the “official link” un building Smart tech web for cobie + IFC 4 Add2 TC1 (ISO) relationship?

Regards from Spain… 😀

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**Author:** ![jonm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/jonm/32/16_2.png) [@jonm](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/jonm)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 9:29am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/9 "2019-06-10T09:29:38Z")

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Sorry, I can’t help. Will have to see if someone else advises on if this exists and if it doesn’t, where this stands they in priorities of projects for buildingSMART to pursue.

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**Author:** ![pilarjimenez](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/pilarjimenez/32/407_2.png) [@pilarjimenez](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/pilarjimenez)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 10:05am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/10 "2019-06-10T10:05:09Z")

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Ok, Jonm. Please, keep me up todo date, if you dont mind.

Thank you for your time but specially for transmiting to BS developers these needs.

Regards

Pilar

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**Author:** ![Stevishere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Stevishere](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/Stevishere)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/11 "2019-06-11T18:59:02Z")

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Have you reached out to Dr. Bill East with your question? He is the original author of many of the Information Exchanges, most notably COBie. His current practice is named Prairie Sky Consulting® LLC.

You may already know, but COBie and all other \*ie are Information Exchanges and a subset of IFC.

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**Author:** ![ReD\_CoDE](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/red_code/32/226_2.png) [@ReD\_CoDE](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/ReD_CoDE)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2019, 7:55pm UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/12 "2019-06-11T19:55:33Z")

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Maybe these help with:

> COBie 2.4 “spreadsheet” version, for instance, Resource + Spare extensions cover “IfcResource” → “IfcConstructionResource” in IFC4?  
> What about Job extension and or Issue extension? In IFC4 Pset\_Risk has extra data/information which improves the “data/information exchange”
> 
> The COBie idea was/is really really invaluable to simplify the chaos and just gather minimum data/information needed  
> But I think Bill East don’t improve it during the time to answer the current needs

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**Author:** ![Moult](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/moult/32/196_2.png) [@Moult](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/Moult)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 7:43am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/13 "2019-10-04T07:43:45Z")

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Hi @pilarjimenez - you may be interested in this update, where I am codifying the COBie IFC-\>Spreadsheet relationships:

> [@COBie and IFC mapping](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/cobie-and-ifc-mapping/1796/4):
>
> As I could not find a satisfactory and transparent IFC-\>COBie spreadsheet converter, I am writing my own based off the official COBie responsibility matrix, discovered as the current “source of truth” for how COBie-\>spreadsheet mappings are meant to work thanks to @jonm. I am still in the process of doing so, but it seems as though that the updates to IFC4 are minor at a first glance (e.g. a particular attribute might’ve been renamed) The code will be in Python, which interprets exactly what i…

It will help answer your questions about how do the mappings translate to IFC4.

Please note that there are also two parts to this, there is the COBie MVD itself, which can be used to produce a compliant IFC, and then there is the IFC-\>Spreadsheet mapping, which allows you to extract the COBie MVD IFC file into a spreadsheet format. Please note that the mapping is _one-way_ - data loss occurs in the mapping process, and due to the complexity of the mapping (many-to-one relationships), it cannot be reversed.

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**Author:** ![nn1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ebca7d/32.png) [@nn1](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/nn1)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 9:37am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/14 "2019-10-06T09:37:24Z")

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AEC3 offers BIMservices \_asCOBie2 and \_fromCOBie2 as XSLT mappings from and to ifcXML. It uses ifcEngine to convert IFC to IFCXML and back.

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**Author:** ![Moult](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.buildingsmart.org/moult/32/196_2.png) [@Moult](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/u/Moult)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 10:41am UTC](https://forums.buildingsmart.org/t/relation-ship-about-ifc-cobie/1478/15 "2019-10-06T10:41:21Z")

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Awesome @nn1 ! Got a link to the app to share? Where can I find the source code for it?
