OpenBIM: Making The Most Out Of Information Management & Interoperability

This is part of our Essential Strategies for Harnessing Building Information Modeling (BIM) Coordination, this section emphasizes optimizing collaboration through effective BIM use. Uncover strategies to enhance workflows and reduce errors, leading to a more streamlined construction process.

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From east to west and everything in between, regardless of your role on a building project or the software you use, openBIM is here to provide real-time visibility and access to digital models for the AECO industry throughout a project’s lifecycle. openBIM helps all of us in our BIM Coordination. Understanding what it is and why it’s useful, is the purpose of this blog. Let’s use a real-world example to explain openBIM, openBIM standards, openBIM process, and openBIM workflow.

A manufacturing owner contracts an architectural firm to design a new facility. During the architect’s design phase, the owner asks to see the work-in-progress, as does the structural engineer, and hey, let’s throw in the mechanical engineer for good measure. Plus, they all have liaisons and various stakeholders who want to view the design in real-time. If each individual on this project works in different parts of the world, and uses various Building Information Modeling software, how will they all access, measure, and comment in real-time? Welcome to the world of openBIM, where everyone has access (if permitted) to collaborate collectively; that’s interoperability, and interoperability is openBIM at its core. 

The architect is ready to share her digital design, so how does she best accomplish this? Her native design file is created using e.g. Archicad software; she then exports her design file as an IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) file, this is referred to as using openBIM standards. The act of exporting her file into an IFC starts the openBIM workflow. When she publishes her digital model in the open exchange format IFC and shares it with stakeholders on the project, she is starting the openBIM process… makes sense?

When you adopt openBIM, you are welcoming in a bevy of benefits to your build. Avoiding communication and costly communication errors is one of these valuable benefits. You provide transparency, much-needed transparency to the project, thus ensuring everyone is on board and accountable at all times. OpenBIM is access to data that makes a business difference during the design and construction phase, one that we’re thankful to have in the BIM environment. OpenBIM allows the different actors of a project to reduce their software expenses by keeping the tools they are familiar with while allowing them to collaborate on the same project. This can make a big difference in the industry.

An IFC file is like a PDF file in that both are “frozen” files, and as a PDF, an IFC file is viewable and can be modified if necessary. To go one step further, with openBIM you can add a BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) on top of an IFC model layer to separate the communication from the model and enjoy other features that enhance coordination.

For more info on OpenBIM, BCF, or our helpful IFC viewer, book a demo to see Newforma Konekt in action!