By Alan Esguerra, Industry Strategy Manager
BuildingSMART hosted their International Standards summit in Rome in late March of 2023.
This particular event focused on delivering “a diverse and sustainable future with openBIM” and attracted around 500 in-person attendees with about half as much in virtual attendees. Attendees came from over 40 countries and 170 speakers joined. Bentley leadership, including our very own Chief Technology Officer, Julien Moutte, presented three sessions and Vice President of Civil Engineering, Francois Valois, presented on how digital twins are redefining the future of infrastructure.
There were many presenters focused on advancing the built asset industry by sharing best practices and open data standards, as well as finding better ways to work together. True to theme, there were many great presentations that highlighted diversity and growing key leadership in many organizations such as the Industry Pioneers session that highlighted eight women from all walks of life and their first-hand experiences and success stories on the forefront of openBIM. It was quite inspiring.
Education on OpenBIM
One of the many driving points through the conference was the need and emphasis on increasing visibility and education on the benefits of openBIM and open data standards in our industry. BSI runs many of their education programs through their individual chapters. Recently, there has been a big push on expanding training and certifications for both implementers and professionals on IFC and openBIM. The implementers mostly the detailed complex data structure, coding, software development and technical implementation of these technologies. This happens frequently as IFC 4.3.1.0 is being reviewed by ISO and is in continual development while newer versions are developed to replace the current. They have their own focused conference yearly. The professionals’ education is typically engaged by the industry professionals — such as engineers, architects, data analysts — that focus on the business aspect. Of course, there are many that wear both hats.
Traditionally in the U.S., only the foundation course has been available, but a project management certification is coming soon. Céline Bent, Compliance Director at buildingSMART International (BSI), stated in one of the panels that education should not be necessary. To clarify, I believe she means that it should be common sense; that we should not need an extra education component. Open data standards should be built into the way we execute business for the long-term. We see the benefits of open standards and actively promote our own as well as IFC and others, but helping to realize broad-based adoption will take much more time than one would expect. If you’re interested, please visit BuildingSMART’s website.
Data Longevity
One major point I took from the conference in Montreal last October was that IFC 4.3 will not support Design Transfer or Design-to-Design capabilities. The structure to achieve the ability to design in one authoring application and continue with design intent in another authoring application is currently not feasible. This may have potential in future IFC versions, such as IFC 5 or beyond, but certainly not in IFC 4.3 or the currently developing 4.4. This was discussed often in Montreal.
Many of the conversations shifted from design transfer (Montreal) to the importance of data longevity (Rome). I felt that one comment encapsulated the overall sentiment at the conference: “We want to be able to read and use this data twenty years from now.” Technology moves exponentially fast. Twenty years from now may seem like 100 years in terms of advancements. Just twenty years ago, file types such as LandXML were still being developed. Now, the task of finding readers of early versions of LandXML files is difficult and results in data loss. Even today, many readers interpret IFC files differently. Older versions of IFC are understood more consistently. Once major development had ceased, adoption and use skyrocketed. We were then able to see innovations in workflows from survey and design to construction (e.g., Automated Machine Grading). IFC 4.3 has the potential to be similar, however, development on it must be stable enough for the industry to grasp and use. We expect that day may come soon. ISO certification is expected later this year and hopefully continued changes are minimal for the software developers and users adopt it before the next version of IFC supersedes it.
Bentley’s New CTO - Julien Moutte
My previous articles described Bentley’s historical support for IFC and joining BSI as an international member, as well as its use in our current software today. We continue to support this worthwhile endeavor in developmental support for open data standards.
I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge our new CTO, Julien Moutte, and his presentation on demystifying digital twins. In his presentation, he broke down what we call iTwin, a realistic and dynamic digital representation of a physical asset, system, or city. Data is the lifeblood that makes a digital twin an accurate and useful representation of its physical counterpart. This data represents what was, what is, or what might be. It is essential to extracting insights and driving decisions toward desired outcomes. Julien then explored various types of technologies that might be considered in a functioning digital twin along with real life examples of its benefits on projects around the world today with Bentley’s solutions.
Check out an interview with Julien Moutte following his presentation here.
Having Bentley’s CTO discuss open data digital twins at buildingSMART’s International Standards Summit shows our commitment and drive towards the new world where living open data is of the utmost importance. We continue to support IFC with our desktop and iTwin platform. With education and stability of IFC schema development, we are confident that it will play a part in digital twins and the future of our industry. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute and look forward to continuing our support for buildingSMART.
For my previous articles regarding IFC, please see the links below:
