A Cloud-Based BIM Platform for Information Collaboration

The Model View Definition (MVD) approach to interoperability of BIM models requires software vendors to write export functions that can map their internal representation to the whole scope of each of many domain-specific target MVDs. However, in everyday practical use of models, a user receiving an exchanged model often requires information that is outside the scope of the exporting application. Thus the need arises to enrich the model for different uses. We propose a cloud-based mode of working in which users can freely query and enrich model objects. The data structure uses the IFC schema but enables addition of dynamically user-defined properties. The approach has been implemented using a NoSQL cloud based database and its use is illustrated with an example of semantic enrichment of a BIM model representing a damaged reinforced concrete beam reconstructed from laser scanning data