IFC plus Data Templates – the right recipe for interoperable data

IFC plus Data Templates – the right recipe for interoperable data

We experience confusion in the market regarding how manufacturers should be using IFC. This is partly because ‘BIM community’ terms like IFC, IFD, IDM are still obscure to the general public and there are few real initiatives to use ‘plain language’ when describing everything BIM is.

In order to digitise product information, we need to communicate the characteristics as standard-based ‘properties’. Many manufacturers have realized this, but this is also where the confusion arises.

IFC, also called ‘the BIM format’, allows for the use of ‘properties’ and has embedded them within its logic. Logically enough, manufacturers come to the conclusion that providing their products ‘in IFC’…