Cross-Domain Building Models—A Step towards Interoperability

Abstract

Buildings have a multifunctional character, which makes it hard to define just one model for all their diverse functions. As these diverse functions are addressed by actors of different perspectives and domain backgrounds, the possibility to exchange available building information would be desirable. Two main models for the creation of building information are Industry Foundation Classes/Building Information Modelling (IFC/BIM) and City Geography Markup Language (CityGML). As the importance of information interchange has been recognized, several authors have tried to develop intermediate models for the information exchange between IFC/BIM and CityGML, e.g., the Unified Building Model (UBM), the BIM Oriented Indoor data Model (BO-IDM), the Indoor Emergency Spatial Model (IESM) and the BIM-GIS integration model for Flood Damage Assessment (FDA model). Nevertheless, all these models have been created with a certain use in mind. Our focus in this article is to identify common elements amongst these proposed models and to combine them into one “core model” that is as simple as possible, while simultaneously containing all important elements. Furthermore, this base model extracted from proposed intermediate models can then be expanded to serve specific use requirements, while still being exchangeable. To show this cross-domain character of the core model, we validated the resulting model with two cases of use (production environment/maintenance and 3D digital cadaster).

Simulating Large-Scale 3D Cadastral Dataset Using Procedural Modelling

“…It must be noted that the boundaries of real property units may not coincide with the physical features of a building [56]. However, in case of buildings, a strong link exists between physical and legal spaces, which has been studied by Aien et al [28], Li et al [57] and Knoth et al [58]. These studies also include the links to the LADM standard data model that are similar to our study.…”

IFC Schemas in ISO/TC 211 Compliant UML for Improved Interoperability between BIM and GIS

“…However, they noted that the OGC specifications provide solutions from only particular views. Donkers et al [16]; Deng et al [17]; Hor et al [31]; Kang and Hong [32]; Knoth et al [33]; Ohori et al [34]; and Vilgertshofer et al [35] are some examples of articles that describe integration between BIM and GIS through schema mapping between IFC and CityGML. Niestroj et al [36] discussed information models for road asset information exchange and noted that InfraGML might be easier to implement than IFC as GIS applications widely support the GML format.…”

Buildings in GI: How to deal with building models in the GIS domain

“…Currently, there have been different models suggested, such as the “unified building model” (El‐Mekawy, Östman, & Hijazi, ), “BIM‐oriented indoor data model” (Isikdag, Zlatanova, & Underwood, ), “indoor emergency spatial model” (Tashakkori, Rajabifard, & Kalantari, ), as well as the “BIM‐GIS integration model for flood damage assessment” (Amirebrahimi et al, ). As all of these have been developed for a specific use case, we analyzed the intermediate models and created a “core model” containing only the most relevant elements of a building, independent of the use case (Knoth et al, ). This model can be extended to fit specific use cases while retaining its “core elements” for exchange purposes.…”

“…F I G U R E 2 Expandability of the core model (Knoth et al, 2018) 2D data sources. To test the integration of 2D information, we used AutoCAD files from three buildings in the city of Salzburg.…”