Building information modeling

BIM software is used by individuals, businesses and government agencies who plan, design, construct, operate and maintain buildings and diverse physical infrastructures, such as water, refuse, electricity, gas, communication utilities, roads, railways, bridges, ports and tunnels.

[8][10][11] However, Graphisoft founder Gábor Bojár has acknowledged to Jonathan Ingram in an open letter, that Sonata "was more advanced in 1986 than ArchiCAD at that time", adding that it "surpassed already the matured definition of 'BIM' specified only about one and a half decade later".

[17] In 2002, Autodesk released a white paper entitled "Building Information Modeling,"[18] and other software vendors also started to assert their involvement in the field.

[23] BIM is often associated with Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) and aecXML – data structures for representing information – developed by buildingSMART.

The use of RDS-CW offers the prospect of integrating BIM with complementary international standards based classification systems being developed for the Power Plant sector.

It also covers spatial relationships, geospatial information, quantities and properties of building components (for example, manufacturers' details), and enables a wide range of collaborative processes relating to the built asset from initial planning through to construction and then throughout its operational life.

Sub-contractors from every trade can input critical information into the model before beginning construction, with opportunities to pre-fabricate or pre-assemble some systems off-site.

Enabling an effective handover of information from design and construction (including via IFC or COBie) can thus yield benefits to the facility owner or operator.

The owner could also have in the model the specific valve size, manufacturer, part number, and any other information ever researched in the past, pending adequate computing power.

[49] As such, BIM in facility operation can be related to internet of things approaches;[50] rapid access to data may also be aided by use of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) and machine-readable RFID tags or barcodes;[51] while integration and interoperability with other business systems - CAFM, ERP, BMS, IWMS, etc - can aid operational reuse of data.

The nucleus is the XML from issuing Energy Performance Certificates, amended by roof data to be able to retrieve the position and size of PV or PV/T.

[59] India Building Information Modelling Association (IBIMA) is a national-level society that represents the entire Indian BIM community.

[61] In 2019, government officials said BIM could help save up to 20% by shortening construction time, and urged wider adoption by infrastructure ministries.

Under the Construction Industry Transformation Plan (CITP 2016–2020),[66] it is hoped more emphasis on technology adoption across the project life-cycle will induce higher productivity.

[67] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) has announced "Start of BIM pilot project in government building and repairs" (by 2010).

The decree states among the main goals of public procurement the "rationalization of designing activities and of all connected verification processes, through the progressive adoption of digital methods and electronic instruments such as Building and Infrastructure Information Modelling".

In early 2018 the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport issued a decree (DM 01/12/17) creating a governmental BIM Mandate compelling public client organisations to adopt a digital approach by 2025, with an incremental obligation which will start on 1 January 2019.

[85][86] Lithuania is moving towards adoption of BIM infrastructure by founding a public body "Skaitmeninė statyba" (Digital Construction), which is managed by 13 associations.

The initiative intends Lithuania to adopt BIM, Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and National Construction Classification as standard.

On 1 November 2011, the Rijksgebouwendienst, the agency within the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment that manages government buildings, introduced the Rgd BIM Standard,[87] which it updated on 1 July 2012.

Initially, compliance would require building data to be delivered in a vendor-neutral 'COBie' format, thus overcoming the limited interoperability of BIM software suites available on the market.

[102] The work of the BIM Task Group then continued under the stewardship of the Cambridge-based Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB),[103] announced in December 2017 and formally launched in early 2018.

[114] The Associated General Contractors of America and US contracting firms have developed various working definitions of BIM that describe it generally as: Although the concept of BIM and relevant processes are being explored by contractors, architects and developers alike, the term itself has been questioned and debated[116] with alternatives including Virtual Building Environment (VBE) also considered.

Unlike some countries such as the UK, the US has not adopted a set of national BIM guidelines, allowing different systems to remain in competition.

[119] A full implementation of BIM also requires the project teams to collaborate from the inception stage and formulate model sharing and ownership contract documents.

Similarly, an assessment of the current 'state of the art' by Kori[121] found that medium and large firms were leading the adoption of BIM in the industry.

The New Zealand government started a BIM acceleration committee, as part of a productivity partnership with the goal of 20 per cent more efficiency in the construction industry by 2020.

[129] However, members of the AEC industry and academia have developed a national BIM handbook providing definitions, case studies and templates.

[138][139][140] 4D BIM enables a sequence of events to be depicted visually on a time line that has been populated by a 3D model, augmenting traditional Gantt charts and critical path (CPM) schedules often used in project management.

[141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148] Construction sequences can be reviewed as a series of problems using 4D BIM, enabling users to explore options, manage solutions and optimize results.

Building information model of a mechanical room developed from lidar data
Operational BIM 2D floor plan view in a mobile device
Architectural BIM Modeling of Clinton Public Library, USA
4D BIM Construction Simulation