Welcome to the buildingSMART International Newsletter for May 2023, delivered to you by Léon van Berlo, Technical Director of bSI.
Read about various technical updates around IDS (including a webinar recording), how the Validation Service is progressing, the commencement of the EU-funded 'ACCORD project' and the next steps for IFC 4.3.
In other news, sponsorship is now live for the buildingSMART International Standards Summit - Lillestrøm 2023, a full event report is available for the Summit that recently concluded in Rome, and registration is open for the next General Assembly of Implementers. The deadline for the openBIM Awards 2023 has also been extended to 31sy May, so there is still time to start your submission today!
The three C's...
Throughout 2023, a different member of the bSI team will be producing this newsletter each month. A great chance to get to know the team a bit more...
May's newsletter is
brought to you by:
Léon van Berlo
Position at buildingSMART:
Technical Director
Time with the company:
4 years
Based in:
Breda, the Netherlands
Hobbies:
The three C's (my Children, Cycling, and Coffee) 👦🚴☕
A little about me:
I've been part of the openBIM community for almost 20 years now, joining buildingSMART International in 2019. My motivation is to have our standards and solutions bring real value to users and with the change in the industry to be more productive.
Due to the travel involved in this role, my cycling is on a very low level these days, although I enjoy chasing badges on Zwift during a lunch break.
This newsletter will be a bit more tech-flavoured than usual; I hope you will all enjoy it regardless.
I will be attending BIM Forum Brasil next week. The openBIM community in Brazil is very active, and I’m looking forward to meeting them in Sao Paulo. There is also an intention for the BIM Forum to start a buildingSMART Chapter in Brazil. I will be presenting the openBIM workflows and buildingSMART principles during a keynote on the first day, and will be part of a buildingSMART Panel on the second day.
Event Report: buildingSMART International Standards Summit - Rome 2023!
The buildingSMART International Standards Summit took place in Rome from March 27th to March 30th, 2023. The event brought together professionals from the international openBIM community to discuss and shape the standards and services that would ensure a more sustainable, productive, and collaborative future for the built asset industry.
This was the second in-person event in three years, and the theme was "Delivering a Diverse and Sustainable Future with openBIM". At the Summit, there was a broad range of topics including shared sessions, masterclasses, keynotes, executive roundtables, a national conference, and Domain-specific sessions. There was also the first ever "Ticket to openBIM" game which combined current activities with hands-on learning.
The ‘Information Delivery Specification’ format is currently under voting to become a ‘candidate standard’. The voting closes on 26th May, after which there will be a ‘software validation’ phase before it will become a final standard. The current IDS 0.9.x will then be renamed to 1.0 without significant changes.
Since many software vendors have already implemented IDS, many users are already using it in practice. We saw some great presentations during the Rome Summit, and just last week Menno Mekes hosted a buildingSMART Webinar about his experiences with IDS. Menno went from ‘never heard of IDS’ to presenting a masterclass in less than six months. This is also a perfect overview of what IDS is for those who want to understand better.
Since there are many practical usages for IDS already out there, we have asked Claudio Benghi to create an ‘IDS diagnostics tool’. This is a bit of a nerdy tool meant to be used by software vendors. It helps software tools that create an exchange requirement in IDS to do it in a valid and consistent way. The IDS Diagnostics tool is therefore not a tool that is targeted for end-users, but to be built into end-user tools to improve consistency. For the techies amongst us, you can find the (open source) code here
The IFC Validation Service is becoming a more and more used service. The service allows you to upload your IFC file and check whether or not it is valid and a major update to the service has just been rolled out. There are quite some improvements around the usability; try it yourself at:
We have big plans to improve the service and make it an integral part of other offerings. Features that are on the roadmap are ‘digitally signed files’ with references to the validation results, and ‘working offline’ to increase speed and allow for validation on files that are sensitive and cannot be uploaded to our servers. If you want to help support such developments, please contact us:
The EU-funded ACCORD project started in 2022. buildingSMART International is a part of this project and is leading work package 3 about transforming permit and compliance processes with (open)BIM. Work package 3 officially started a few weeks ago.
This project will map out how standards and services like IFC, BCF, IDS, the bSDD, and the Validation Service can be used for digital permit processes. Prepare to receive questionnaires and look out for workshops during our summits about this. Although this is an EU-sponsored project it will also involve use cases from other continents as well.
The results of the IFC 4.3 ballot are in. We received some excellent comments from the ISO members and liaison organizations. The next step is that the ISO Joined Working Group 12 and buildingSMART will work closely together to finalize IFC 4.3 and publish it by ISO. Since the software vendors are already actively implementing, we expect that IFC 4.3 will be available for end-users around the same time as the final publication by ISO.
As we have only just received the commentary (in the last few hours at the time of writing this) we can’t predict yet when that will be exactly; however, once we have a clear forecast we will share that with the community. In the meantime, preparations are also ongoing in the background to ensure we can start IFC Software Certification on this latest IFC version as soon as possible. Combining ISO publication and Software Certification is a big step for improved interoperability in our industry.
openBIM Awards 2023
The submission deadline for the buildingSMART Awards Program 2023 has been extended until May 31st! If you're working on a submission or want to submit your project for consideration, now's the perfect time. We're also happy to accept 'auto-translated' submissions using software tools, so don't let language barriers stop you from sharing your work with the community.
The 'Triage Team' recently had its kickoff for this year's Awards Program. A team led by Susan, Evandro, and myself will go over all the submissions to check them on completeness before they are sent off to the jury - a great task that allows us to see all submissions. For the first time, we will also use the Validation Service to test the submitted IFC files. The jury will get a diagnostic overview of how valid each IFC file is to help them judge.
For more information and submission details, check out the buildingSMART website. Good luck to all participants!
Sponsorship packages are available now! Just scan or click the QR code below.
Registration is underway for the Next
General Assembly of Implementers
Standards turn into value when they can be used in practice. This can only be done by implementers. Software vendors and implementers are key stakeholders for increasing the quality of interoperability and usability of standards in practice. Implementers work in several teams, and twice a year they come together to keep each other informed. These meetings typically accelerate the development of our standards and solutions and are therefore crucial to our community. We have standards, but they only work because they are implemented.
The next General Assembly of Implementers is being sponsored by Dassault Systèmes and will take place at their Headquarters in Vélizy-Villacoublay, France (on the outskirts of Paris). Join us on Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st August, 2023.
Within the framework of the buildingSMART Process, regular elections are held every two years for the various Domains (previously known as Rooms). These domain-focused environments are dedicated to the development of standards and solutions to improve the whole life management of the built asset industry.
Additionally, the various Domains may oversee specialized groups responsible for a range of activities, such as conducting research and concept proposals, undertaking development work, providing implementation support, developing tools and publications, engaging in test-bed activities, and defining and supporting services.
The results of the recent Steering Committee Elections for both the Infrastructure Room and the Building Room can be found below.
Léon: "Plannerly has proven to be one of the fastest implementers of the bSDD and IDS. Their contribution to get these solutions to the industry has been amazing."
Want to learn how to seamlessly implement bSDD and IDS? Join this upcoming webinar with Clive Jordan, Co-founder of Plannerly, and check out our Step-by-Step Guide!
Thursday 25th May 2023, 2 p.m. CEST
We'll be covering the following topics: • What is bSDD and IDS? • Why should you use them for your BIM projects? • How do you implement bSDD and IDS with Plannerly? • Best practices on getting started.
At the end of this session, you will gain a better understanding of how bSDD and IDS can help your team collaborate more effectively. Don't miss out on the opportunity to simplify your BIM implementation process. Come learn with us; join us in this informative webinar.
buildingSMART is pleased to announce the following two membership updates:
Principal Member (Upgraded): SBB
SBB is the backbone of the Swiss public transport system with day-to-day rail operations the basis of what SBB does. SBB transports over 1,26 million people and 210 000 tonnes of freight to their destination every day. SBB’s 33,000 dedicated employees make it the backbone of public transport and work to realise the vision for the mobility of the future. SBB is making an important contribution to the quality of life and competitiveness in Switzerland now and in the future. Learn more at www.transportation.org/
New Standard Member: Plannerly
Plannerly simplifies project management by consolidating BIM standards, requirements, sequencing, tracking, and BIM compliance. The Plannerly app is available in over 30 languages and is used by upwards of 50,000 users
in more than 140 countries worldwide. Their goal is to eliminate the fragmentation and frustration between all design, build, and operations stakeholders. Learn more at https://www.plannerly.com/
Become a Member in 2023
Membership of bSI is a great way to get active in buildingSMART. A wide range of benefits includes active participation in Rooms, webinars, voting, and much more!
Interested in helping to develop open solutions and standards for the built asset industry?
A number of community proposals are out for vote and can be accessed via the 'Standards Committee Consultation' page, which takes information directly from the projects. Follow the link below to learn more.
There is a variety of votes currently out there in the community with access done via the open and live website that takes information directly from the projects. You can learn more by clicking the link below.
To help you receive the emails that are most relevant to you, marketing emails have been categorized into 8 communication types. Please take the time to subscribe to the emails of your choice by clicking 'Manage preferences' below.
FOLLOW US
Please follow us on social media to stay connected and up to date
with the latest news from the community.
buildingSMART International, Kings House, Station Road, Kings Langley, London WD4 8LZ, United Kingdom
.png?upscale=true&width=1000&upscale=true&name=MicrosoftTeams-image%20(1).png)
