B2 -Group B - Week 2 - Blog Post - Chris Sager

­­            My time at Drexel has introduced me to several software applications typically used by those involved in the design, construction, and management of buildings. Each suite of application proved to provide different sorts of information as the result. Whether it be a 2D CAD drawing from Autodesk, a 3D geometric model from Sketch Up, Numerical energy usage and cost data from eQuests DOE 2, and even something as minimal as 3D electronics components out of a 3D printer through Creo Parametric, the resulting data produced from these services proved to be extremely beneficial. Interoperability gives professionals in our field the ability to tie all this information together in the hopes of sharing it between services. It is the ability for two systems to work with one another.
          

            In the BIM Handbook: A guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, Chapter 3 provides us with an excellent overview and discussion on the Topic of Interoperability [1]. The handbook provides us with different kinds of exchange formats professionals will acquire, A brief background of product data models and the efforts in supporting standardization, as well as finally the evolution of BIM and how it’s moved from File-Based exchange to more advanced building model Repositories.

Various BIM Tools Logos from Around the Internet

           

            Today there exists 3 levels of interoperability. They are Technical, Syntactic, and Semantic.  In the technical phase, we are focusing on the ability to send information from one system to another electronically. The syntactic level deals with the ability to read what was just sent to you. It important we realize the ability to understand the information we have just received has not yet occurred. It is usually at this point in our field most software packages and systems have downfalls. Great, we received data, but without understanding it, is it beneficial to us? In the semantic phase, we are both receiving information and understanding it in the same moment. A simple example of this is the fact I can grab my Apple iPhone right now and download Microsoft Office onto it. Write this entire article, and then publish it. Both systems work together although they are competitors and both use different coding languages. The same can be said for most design and construction software.

Bim Handbook Chapter 3 Figure 3-1

            In the beginning of the 21^st Century the number of design and construction applications grew steadily year over year. With this growth came more deficiencies in Interoperability. In supporting standardization, chapter 3 covers steps taken by the International Standards Committee (ISO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The creation of STEP or Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data helped create the EXPRESS language and develop safeguards to deal with advanced data exchange issues. Another large improvement in the community was provided through IFC. In short, IFC is a database format. It’s just a way to store, retrieve, and even build data. More and more though governments are requiring the use of IFC as a deliverable in government projects.

The question ultimately arising, Is there a good result of all these facilitations? I believe the answer is yes. BIM repositories will definitely become more common and their growth will increase for managing BIM projects in the future as they become more complex. This is going to bring about the need for better Interoperability. This chapter as well is a little bit about dated as noted by Maria Raggousis, another member of my group in her week 2 post.

I also took the opportunity to visit Rivets support forums and find a few conversations discussing changes customers were looking to me implemented in newer models of the program. It is very interesting to see some of the requests involving interoperability. For example, a number of requests come up daily asking for the ability to merge, mesh, and integrate among the applications different features or other systems.

Revit Ideas Discussion Website Header

Works Cited

Eastman, Charles M. BIM handbook: a guide to building information modeling for owners, managers, designers, engineers and contractors. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.

Revit Ideas Page - http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/idb-p/302/tab/most-recent

Comments to my Peers

Peter Dannemann wrote a very interesting discussion piece this week in regards to BIM and the features it provides to professionals in more fields than you would initially assume (here). For example, he goes on to state how not just the designer and engineer can find the benefits of BIM useful, the owner and stakeholders in the project could use BIM energy data to assume costs related to the project. This is so beneficial when spending millions on a project and coming up with post construction management and maintenance fees. Its your responsibility as a designer and constructor to undergo commissioning on your projects. This includes HVAC, heating, electrical loads testing which having a better view of before the construction process can save a headache.

I  read Brandon Mengels (here) discussion this week to get another perspective on chapter 3 in the BIM Handbook (here). While we discussed a lot of similar topics throughout the chapter, Mengels made a lot of excellent insights I brushed over. For example, his opinion on non-editable geometric data was interesting. Numerous applications come up with these geometric results whether its a energy usage based off 3D room sizes, or stress & strain information for structural steel. Mengel states from the subject, only a handful of people have the qualifications to manipulate this data. NASA for example, is discussed as being one of those organizations requiring lots of data mining and manipulation to implement it into their projects. Another reason the improvement of Interoperability is so important.

Taryn Francischetti wrote a very interesting discussion this week emphasizing the pros and cons of Revit, today’s market leader in BIM software application (here). While I was already familiar with a lot of the advantages associated with Revit, some downfalls were new information for me. For example, the more curves your project features in design elements will exponentially slow down the software. This is critical and something Revit should look as soon as possible – more and more projects today are looking to implement designs of this curved nature. Take for example the new Apple campus in Cupertino under construction. It is on massive circle made of glass and steel.