Terms and Definitions
In order to understand the building SMART concept, it is necessary to learn the key terms and abbreviations. Some of the most important are listed on this page.
| Term | Acronym | Definition | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Building Information Modelling | BIM |
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a new approach to being able to describe and display the information required for the design, construction and operation of constructed facilities. It is able to bring together the different threads of information used in construction into a single operating environment thus reducing, and often eliminating, the need for the many different types of paper document currently in use. To use BIM effectively however, and for the benefits of its use to be released, the quality of communication between the different participants in the construction process needs to be improved. |
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| Information Delivery Manual | IDM | The Information Delivery Manual (IDM) aims to provide the integrated reference for process and data required by BIM. The IDM will provide the integrated comprehensive reference required by identifying the discrete processes undertaken within building construction together with the information that is required for and results from their execution. The IDM will target both BIM users and solution providers: - For BIM users, it will provide a simple to understand, plain language description of building construction processes, the requirements for information to be provided to enable the process to be carried out successfully, additional information that may need to be provided by the user and the expected end results of the process. - For BIM solution providers, it will identify and describe the detailed functional breakdown of the process and the IFC capabilities needing to be supported for each functional part in terms of the entities, attributes, property sets and properties required. Additionally, the IDM will provide an improved methodology for development of future extensions to the IFC model that will include close descriptions of business requirements and IFC support so as to support accelerated implementation. |
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| Industry Foundation Class | IFC | The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) specification is a neutral data format to describe, exchange and share information typically used within the building and facility management industry sector (AEC/FM). The IFC specification is developed and maintained by buildingSMART International (formerly known as International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI)). The IFC specification is written using the EXPRESS data definition language, defined as ISO10303-11 by the ISO TC184/SC4 committee. It is the same data definition language as used e.g. in STEP or CIS/2. It has the advantage of being compact and well suited to include data validation rules within the data specification. The IFC exchange file structure (the syntax of the IFC data file with suffix ".ifc") is the so called "STEP physical file" format, defined as ISO10303-21 by the same ISO TC184/SC4 committee. It is an ASCII file format used to exchange IFC between different applications. In addition to the IFC-EXPRESS specification an ifcXML specification is published as well (since the IFC2x release). The ifcXML spec is provided as an XML schema 1.0, as defined by W3C. The ifcXML exchange file structure (the syntax of the IFC data file with suffix ".ifcXML") is the XML document structure. The XML schema is automatically created from the IFC-EXPRESS source using the "XML representation of EXPRESS schemas and data", defined as ISO10303-28 ed. 2. This ensures that both IFC-EXPRESS and ifcXML handle the same data consistently and that the *.ifc and *.ifcXML data files can be converted bi-directionally. |
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| Model View Defintion | MVD |
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| Exchange Requirements | ER | See --> MVD | ||
| Implementer Agreements | In many cases the IFC-specification offers alternatives for support by software applications. Even after limtting the scope by MVDs several alternatives and ambiguities remain. In this case software implementers within the Implementer Support Group are defining agreements to implement the scope of an MVD in a unique way. | |||
| International Framework for Dictionaries | IFD | International Framework for Dictionaries (ISO 12006-3) is a library with terminology and ontologies assisting in identifying the type of information being exchanged. It is developed with the purpose of adding value to the IFCs and is language and culture independent. The International Framework for Dictionaries (IFD) (ISO 12006-3) standard is developed by ISO TC 59/SC 13/WG 6. Many of the members of the work group are also members of International Construction Information Society (ICIS ). The IFD standard has many similarities with the EPISTLE standard for the Oil and Gas industry. While the IFC standard describes objects, how they are connected, and how the information should be exanged and stored, the IFD standard uniquely describe what the objects are, and what properties, units and values they can have. IFD provides the dictionary, the definitions of concepts, the relationships between them and the common understanding necessary for the communication to flow smoothly. |

