BIM Server information exchange (BIMSie)
ORGANIZATION: TNO/ERDC/NIBS
Chair
Bill East
bill.east@us.army.mil
(217) 373-6710
Background
From the beginning of discussion of open standards for the building information exchange there has been a public expectation that server-based technology would be created. Frequently, the diagram used to illustrate such a model server was that of a centralized life-cycle database into which each project stakeholder would contribute their part. Like no other topic in this area of building information modeling, this one figure has spawned a cottage industry of lawyers demanding the creation of new theories of shared risk based on the centralization of building information. Of particular concern is the inability to define generic information assurance procedures to reduce authorized access and modification of building information.
Fortunately to move forward with the exchange of contractually-required, performance-based, open-standard building information centralized model servers and new legal theories are not needed. The whole idea of a single centralized model server through the project life-cycle has been generally discredited. As a practical matter, people need and will use different tools for different jobs. There is no difference between the cabinet maker and project stakeholders in this regard. There is a need to use different tools for different jobs. What is needed is the precise specification of what information will be transmitted to whom, at which points in the contract.
Problem
While many standardized information exchanges will be based on the exchanges of large files, other types of transactions will contain a smaller set of information. Consider for example, the need of a product manufacturer to deliver electronic product data to the contractor or the need for a subcontractor to note the installation date and serial number of installed equipment. These examples do not require the exchange of an entire building model, only the exchange of a portion of that information. While projects such as the Life-Cycle information exchange (LCie) project have defined both the file-based and transactional exchanges, there remains no effective means for direct software-to-software exchange. As the number of different tools that exchange building information increase, there is a need to standardize how such information transfers can be accomplished among software systems. Without such standards we have system-to-system communication protocols that cannot communicate, even if the users of those systems have created compliant open-standard building information payloads.
Objective
The objective of this project will be to continuously develop a set of information exchange standards that define how building information can be exchanged from one software system to another. In this context, the idea of a system is very loosely defined. In some cases a system may be a smart phone application, in other cases the system may be an owners’ back in facility management database.
Approach
This project will to create a standard Application Programming Interface for system that exchange IFC based building information. This project will begin with meetings by software companies who have currently participated in the development and implementation of IFC model view definition data. Vendors participating in lightweight implementations of IFC model views may also participate in this effort.
The expectation of these initial meetings is to define a set of system-to-system protocols for any number of information exchanges. Integral to these exchanges will be the information assurance mechanism and encryption standards needed to protect such information from those who might intercept the information in route.
Examples of the types of interfaces that could be developed include, but are not limited to, the following list:
- User Authentication
- Full and Partial Model Locking
- Full and Partial Model Merging
- BIM Query Language
Expected result
The first result will be to survey software developers to determine the scope and priority software-to-software exchanges that are needed to implement existing National Building Information Model Standards (including those of the United States and other countries).
There will be a reference implementation with examples provided utilizing the bimServer open-source model server project. A build of the specified API’s with error checking is also expected to be produced that may also be used for compliance testing against this specification.
The intended packages tested should be based on IFC-based open information standards.
The standardization of communication protocols will accelerate the pace of innovations in this space since developers can spend time with the user-facing sides of their applications and not worry about the back-end communications methods required of their software.
Schedule
- Introduction conference call: February/March 2012
- First proposal (beta): April 2012
- Conference call on beta proposal: May 2012
- Written feedback deadline: June 2012
- Publication of feedback on website: July 2012
- Second release standard proposal: August 2012
- Reference implementation: September 2012
- Conference call on status: October 2012
Call for Participation
The project is being organized into a core technical team and corresponding user members membership who will review and comment on the work of the core team. United States and international data modelers are also supporting the team to ensure the work accomplished will be consistent with other efforts of the buildingSMART alliance and buildingSMART international. To participate in this project, please contact Léon van Berlo from TNO: Leon.vanBerlo@tno.nl
