The model carries information
A BIM model is more than a 3D picture. Each element, a wall, a door, a space, has a class, a name, properties such as a fire rating, a material, a classification and a place in the building. People use that information to plan, build, hand over and run a building. For the information to be useful, it has to be there, in the form the project asked for. That is what IFC Checker tests.
Who needs what
The client says what information it needs, in its information requirements. The designers and contractors who author the models deliver it. ISO 19650 is the international standard for managing information in this way, over the whole life of a building. The check is the same for both sides: the author checks before handover, the client checks on delivery.
The standards
buildingSMART International publishes the openBIM standards. The ones IFC Checker works with are:
- IFC, the Industry Foundation Classes, which describe the model.
- IDS, the Information Delivery Specification, which says what information the model must carry.
- BCF, the BIM Collaboration Format, which carries issues from one tool to another.
buildingSMART also runs services around them, for example a data dictionary and a validation service for IFC files.
Why open standards
A client does not know which software its designers use. If requirements, models and issues are in open formats, any tool that reads the format can take part, and nobody has to buy a particular program to read a delivery. IFC Checker reads IFC and IDS, and writes BCF, Excel and CSV.
Try it in IFC Checker
- Export a model from your authoring tool as IFC and add it on Check. Pick or add an IDS as the test.
- After the check, download the issues as BCF and open them in your authoring or coordination tool (What is BCF?).
Where to read more
buildingSMART explains openBIM on its own pages, with the standards and the services in one place:
IFC Checker is not made by buildingSMART, and its checks are not a buildingSMART approval.