Standards
buildingSMART promotes international consensus among stakeholders on specific standards to accelerate implementation and uptake. buildingSMART standards cover a wide range of process and information capabilities unique to the built environment industry, including:
- An industry-specific data model schema - Industry Foundation Classes [IFC]
- Under development: Define your Exchange Information requirements in a computer interpretable way - Information Delivery Specification [IDS] (under voting soon).
- Model-based, software-independent communication protocols - BIM Collaboration Format [BCF]
- Industry standard Application Programming Interfaces - openCDE API family, including BCF API, foundationAPI, Dictionaries API, and DocumentAPI (under voting)
We also offer a suite of online services to use the standards in a more effective way:
- A standard library of general definitions of BIM objects and their attributes - buildingSMART Data Dictionary [bSDD](implementing Dictionaries API)
- Best Practises of use-cases - Use-Case Management service [UCM]
- IFC Validation service (under development)
buildingSMART also oversees formal reviews and publication of Technical Reports that result from activities in the Domains that involve research, development or implementation and are of interest and benefit to the buildingSMART Community and the built asset industry. The intent is to publish all results from the room in the use-case management service.