Georeferencing in Ifc: Meeting the Requirements of Infrastructure and Building Industries

Abstract

Abstract. The problem of georeferencing building information modelling (BIM) models is complex and in need of a comprehensive solution. We focus on the open BIM data format Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and its georeferencing implementation. The requirements voiced by the domain experts during recent years have been collected and analysed. While IFC already covers some of the concepts, we propose an extension to the IFC schema to handle the inadequacy. Our proposal composes of two new entities: one supports geographic coordinate reference systems (CRSs) and the other enables a rigid transformation of BIM geometries. We showcase the possibilities with three examples, one for each of the required scenarios. The improvements assure much-needed semantically clear definitions of the georeferencing concept within the IFC data model. As such, the interpretation of IFC data content is unambiguous for stakeholders and software implementers.

A Systematic Review of the Trends and Advances in IFC Schema Extensions for BIM Interoperability

“…[94] developed entities to encapsulate critical scheduling and quality data generated during the foundation construction phase, while ref. [95] introduced supplemental entities to effectively represent georeferencing data. Three cases were sector-agnostic: Ref.…”

“…For instance, ref. [95] documented entities, relationships, and attributes in EXPRESS-X to articulate georeferencing data. Alternatively, EXPRESS-G offers a graphical notation syntax for a visual representation of the extended entities and properties within the context of the existing standard schema.…”

The IFC-Tunnel Project – Extending the IFC Standard to Enable High-Quality Exchange of Tunnel Information Models

“…-International Tunneling and Underground Space Association -ISO and IEC standards on tunneling -GeoSciML standard by OGC -French MiND project documentation -German DAUB guidelines on Tunnel BIM models and many others In addition, the published results from various research projects were taken into account [22] [11].…”