Abdiel is the Chief Technology Officer of Ahunbay Construction (Turkish company). He has several of experience in designing innovative CAD solutions for the building industry. He is the chief designer of the bim+ architecture. Abdiel describes for us the features and uniqueness of the BIM Server implemented in the bim+ platform.
BIM Server in bim+ platform
The word “OPEN” describes the key uniqueness of the BIM Server of the bim+ platform.
- It has an OPEN interface to any vendor’s BIM models.
- It has an OPEN API, allowing any external applications and services to enhance the stored BIM models via software on any external computer.
- It is OPEN to any third party apps to extract and use the building model information from the bim+ platform to provide increased value to users
- It is based on OPEN BIM standards.
- It is in the Cloud, providing an OPEN, anytime-anywhere access
First, what is a BIM Server? Why do we need it?
BIM Server is the heart of collaboration between AEC professionals in the BIM process for building. BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a modern approach for generating a digital representation of the building where each element of the building and the associated process is described as a digital model. The information can be alphanumeric or graphical. AEC Professionals and specialists create these digital models for architecture, structure, electrical, plumbing, costs, timing etc. The digital building is represented by the consolidation of all these models.
BIM server is an intelligent central storage for the BIM models and building information needed for collaboration between different parties in the building process. bim+ has direct import interface for many popular CAD model formats and for IFC files. The BIM Server of the bim+ platform is in the Cloud allowing a managed “anytime-anywhere” access to the BIM server.
BIM Server for the bim+ platform is intelligent and does much more than just store BIM models. The server includes a number of BIM functions for dealing with the BIM models. Firstly, the BIM models are converted and stored semantically as topology, disciplines and layers. Our BIM server does the consolidation of building information and verification for the overall integrity and consistency. Revision management, progress management are performed on loaded BIM models. Each BIM object has attributes that can be defined, altered and added. It connects the information in the diverse models to create the desired consolidated representation of the building. Additional functions can be added to the BIM Server.
The OPEN and extensive API to the BIM Server of the bim+ platform provides a managed external access to BIM models. This allows manual addition and modification of stored building information. Through this access, it is possible for external apps and services to use the model information for tasks like visualizing the integrated building model, or to modify and add the attributes of the BIM models – like structure, material, texture, energy parameters, costs etc. It is possible for external applications to do complex operations like rendering, clash detection, measurements, planning, costing, energy calculations and simulations in real time. Downstream services and Facility Management functions can be easily implemented using the BIM models. This provides tremendous flexibility for usage and collaboration by participating professionals in the building process.
bim+ platform has a cloud based OPEN, generic BIM server providing high flexibility and rich functionality which can be expanded using external third party innovative apps.