Since my last post I’ve been involved in some nice developments related to BIM and classification. That’s why for now I’ve stopped writing about BIM element property names. But be patient, more and even better things are coming! Here’s a quick update.
FIRST, Lithuania has adopted a national construction classification system based on ISO/IEC 81346. The reason is that this is the standard that’s best for BIM. It is the only classification system that allows for stable coding of BIM components across the whole building lifecycle. You don’t get that with OmniClass or Uniclass or the other classification systems many countries have adopted!
The ISO-based system is also human readable and makes IT interoperability easy. Those were secondary priorities in the comparative study I oversaw as Head of the BIM Development Working Group at Skaitmenine Statyba, the association coordinating digitalization of construction in Lithuania. I introduced the new classification system at the RESTA construction expo and conference.
SECOND, the corresponding national associations in Denmark and Sweden –which have both also adopted the ISO-based standard– want to join forces with us to create a common classification system for BIM element properties.
The initiative is the result of a meeting I held with two active members of the buildingSMART alliance in the Nordic region: Klas Eckerberg of Svensk Byggtjänst in Sweden and Søren Spile of MOLIO in Denmark. They very much agree that, as I’ve written on this blog, there’s an urgent need for a BIM property classification system: standard and human-readable ways to name element parameters, choose units of measure, decide which ones to include, etc. That simply doesn’t exist now anywhere.
In fact, people in our 3 countries have begun taking steps toward the creation of such a system. So it of course makes sense that we unite forces and work to develop one single classification. I will update readers as this effort advances. Meanwhile, I’ll focus my blog posts on other important areas and issues.
