A cloud-based BIM platform for information collaboration

The Model View Definition (MVD) approach to
interoperability of BIM models requires software
vendors to write export functions that can map their internal representation to the whole scope of each of many domain-specific target MVDs. However, in everyday practical use of models, a user receiving an exchanged model often requires information that is outside the scope of the exporting application. Thus the need arises to enrich the model for different uses.
We propose a cloud-based mode of working in which
users can freely query and enrich model objects. The data structure uses the IFC schema but enables
addition of dynamically user-defined properties. The approach has been implemented using a NoSQL
cloud based database and its use is illustrated with an example of semantic enrichment of a BIM model representing a damaged reinforced concrete beam reconstructed from laser scanning data