Research Activities
There are several universities and research institutes working on IFC related topics and contributing to the IFC development community. Those known to us are listed here - please add your own work. | ||
EU Projects co-funded by the European commission
IFC related research and development as part of completed and ongoing EuropeanR&D projected
- Integrated project InPro "Open Information Environment for knowledge-based collaborative Processes throughout the lifecycle of a building" --> read more at the project website
- IST project SWOP "Semantic Web-based Open engineering Platform" includes as one of its application areas the link between IFC based product models and a product modeling ontology, PMO --> read more at the project website
- Standards network project STAND-INN "Integration of building standards into business processes using IFC open standards to enhance innovation and sustainable development" --> read more about the project kick-off in Valencia at the Europe Innova website
Germany
A summary of IFC related research activities at German and Swiss universities has been presented at the symposium "IAI Hochschulsymposium" during the IAI Summit April 2006 in Munich --> more here (in German)
- IFC at "iabi – Institute for Applied Building Informatics, Munich" " --> more about research in iabi
- IFC at "Institute for Applied Computer Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology" --> more about research in IAI
- IFC at "Institute for Construction Informatics, TU-Dresden" --> more about research in CIB TU-Dresden
- IFC at "Institute for Industrial Building Production (ifib), Univeristy of Karlsruhe (TH)" --> more about research in IFIB University of Karlsruhe
- IFC at "Chair of Structural Analysis and Dynamics, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus" --> more at BTU Cottbus
Norway
- IFC at "SINTEF building an infrastructure, Norway" --> read more at SINTEF byggforsk buildingSMART
Australia
- IFC related research and software development are carried out at CRC for Construction Innovation Australia --> read more about research and tool development, including LCADDesign, Automated Estimator, and DesignCheck at IFC releated research at CRC
New Zealand
- IFC related research have been carried out at the department of Fire Engineering at University of Canterbury. Software applications developed at the university include "ifcSTEP Parser" and "ifcSTEP-BRANZFIRE". Recent student research projects include "Generating FDS Fire Simulation Input using IFC based building information model"; a web application "ifcSTEP-FDS" has also been developed as part of the research.
- IFC related research are also carried out at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Auckland. Recent projects include the development of a web-based Open IFC Models Repository, which was launched at the CIB W78 2010 27th International Conference in Cairo, Egypt on 16th Nov 2010. See also: An Open Repository of IFC Data Models and Analyses to Support Interoperability Deployment Open IFC Model Repository
Integrated Digital Solutions (IDS) program
The CRC for Construction Innovation in Australia has embarked on a research initiative to run from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2009 to ensure an even stronger industry focus. Three additional research and implementation projects will build on and complement Construction Innovation's existing work and will focus on integrated digital solutions.
The Integrated Digital Solutions (IDS) program has been developed to provide outcomes that complement and benefit industry users of BIM. The goal is to provide industry practitioners with National Guidelines that promote effective data sharing between disciplines, trial it in an on-line, real-time context and show industry the benefits of this paradigm shift in business processes.
- Develop and implement interoperable standards that set the format for comprehensive interoperable digital information models in the areas of roads, site works, underground services and landscaping.
- Develop dynamic National Guidelines based on experience and practical examples that promote consistency in the implementation of digital models for building and infrastructure projects. The National Guidelines will support stakeholders in achieving interoperability throughout the lifecycle of the facility and will be based on internationally accepted standards.
- Document at least six case studies where integrated digital models have been developed and use lessons learned from those case studies to assist in the development of the National Guidelines.
- Review and analyse the current capability of model servers leading to an open software specification which will cater for IFC digital models accessible through a web interface.