AECCafe Voice Special Report: What Makes for BIM Interoperability?

The built environment is increasingly more digitized, relying heavily on large building models to hold all aspects of a building project. Thus, the need for BIM Interoperability is greater as the necessity grows for stakeholders to be able to access the information inside these complex and huge models.

ABDCE_disciplines: AECOsim Building Designer, Bentley’s multi-discipline BIM application, provides architectural, structural, electrical, and mechanical tools so you can coordinate your designs better across disciplines with a streamlined workflow.

For AEC firms, it is very common to use multiple software products within the same organization, as well as outside the organization. No single BIM software solution or integrated system can fulfill the requirements of the AEC industry. All these products throughout the design process need to be able to communicate with one another.

Standards organizations have come forward to suggest that they have the answer to interoperability in the BIM world. But currently what most vendors are able to achieve is perhaps an increase in interoperability. Does anyone offer total interoperability?

Some of our respondents define BIM interoperability in this way:

“Interoperability is about handing over the right amount of information, to the right people at the right time,” says David Lash, product manager, Trimble, Tekla Structures Division. “It’s about hitting milestones for people who want to stay up to date with the wider project, even on a daily basis.”

“Communication, communication, communication,” says Joe Eichenseer, director, Building Lifecycle Solutions, North America IMAGINiT. “Interoperability allows us to communicate better and reduce or eliminate the chance of translation errors between systems.”

This article should offer some insight into BIM software companies and their perspective on interoperability.

1. What common data format does your company use to exchange data?

Interoperability is very important to Autodesk and has been since our company was created in 1982. We were the original founders of buildingSMART International (formerly IAI) with 12 other companies including AT&T, HOK and Archibus. See table below for some of the file formats we actively support.

Autodesk Software Titles and Common Supported File Formats

Eichenseer of IMAGINiT, says they use Excel and csv for their common data formats.

“Within the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process, different stakeholders might use different tools” says Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CEO, Vectorworks. “One of our priorities is to ensure Vectorworks users can easily collaborate and share files with colleagues, consultants and clients. To this end, we offer a huge number of import/export capabilities, which includes IFC for an openBIM exchange with Revit, Navisworks, ArchiCAD and other BIM tools, DWG/DXF, STL, PDF and other formats for fabrication, as well as links with Revit, SketchUp, Bluebeam Studio, Rhino, Photoshop and Cinema4D and more.”

“Our users tell us that they use MicroStation-based products because they have such a rich ability to import data from many other sources,” says Bentley’s Andy Smith, Director Product Management, Building Design Modeling. “They can take SketchUp files, AutoCAD drawings, and other types of files and mash it up in a master model.”

“ARCHICAD supports the most commonly used industry standard 2D, 3D and BIM data exchange file formats, such as PDF, DWG, IFC, BCF, 3DM, XLS, SKP, 3DS, 3DM, C4D and many more,” according to  Rob Roef, OPEN BIM Program Manager, GRAPHISOFT.

For the complete list of supported file formats please check this article on GRAPHISOFT HelpCenter.

2. What do you think about the ability for BIM tools to not only transfer data, but to also transfer meaning?

“In the end it’s all data and how you choose to use it. ‘Meaning’ is good for communication through design and construction but meaning often takes a back seat to function once you get to the point of managing a building,” Eichenseer from IMAGINiT says.

“For us, BIM has three aspects to it: data, geometry and semantics (how the objects relate and should be constructed),” says Dr. Sarkar. “It’s critically important with BIM to be able to transfer design intent and constructability in the model. The BIM model and data are becoming the communication tool around which project stakeholders discuss, coordinate and get approvals. Meaning is also conveyed by the drawings the BIM authoring program produces.”

“An approach to providing meaning in the transfer of data is to focus on the quality of the information transferred,” says senior public relations manager, Brian Farber, of Autodesk. “Higher quality data improves the level of trust and this trust can the provide greater meaning for project teams. Here is a set of free tools to facilitate BIM data quality.”

“Trimble aligns with the principles put forward by the US BIMforum LOD specification,” says Lash. “A 3D model can communicate via geometric shapes, but the reliability of that information for a certain purpose, by a certain team, is something that needs to be defined so that the data is meant for a clearly planned purpose and has meaning to a large number of project stakeholders.”

From design to construction, the Sichuan Provincial Architectural Design and Research Institute used AECOsim Building Designer’s BIM advancements, to enhance information exchange among disciplines and ensure timely collection, update, management, and data application. AECOsim Building Designer enabled the institute to shorten the project period by 60 percent, reduced design errors by 80 percent, and increased design depth by 50 percent. Courtesy of Sichuan Provincial Architectural Design and Research Institute

“If meaning is defined as logic, purpose, and performance, then computational design really starts embedding meaning because it talks about behaviors and how things are related,” Andy Smith, Director Product Management, Building Design Modeling at Bentley says. “For example, it will show how changing one aspect of the design will affect everything else. Or, we can choose to keep something in the design because it has particular meaning and make sure that it does not disappear from the design as we move things around. Also, data can be structured as self-describing so that, when queried for an intended purpose, it can provide the most relevant answer.”

GRAPHISOFT has been facing this challenge since its inception. “Very soon we realized that it’s not enough to support 2D graphical data output and 3D geometry export, but we also have to ensure the exchange of data associated with the BIM model,” says Roef. “Data in this context refers to meaningful information for the receiving party. However, the big difference is only made when relevant information is exchanged.”

3. How would you describe the difference between interoperability and compatibility?

“Compatibility is the potential for interoperability.  Interoperability is use of data between systems,” says Eichenseer.

According to Farber of Autodesk, “Interoperability is a powerful method in making BIM application software more compatible. Compatibility provides for the access and use of data over time, within one family of software applications. Interoperability targets the same objective using different software editing applications to meet this goal.”

“Interoperability is the capability to move data from one system to another for reuse without any issues,” Smith says. “For example, I could have data inside a third-party application like Revit and I can move it to AECOsim Building Designer, our multi-discipline BIM application, to do more work. Compatibility, however, is the capability to use data from another system without changing its structure or format. The data does not move but was referenced and, because the data was compatible, it was quickly used.”

“Within the AEC community, compatibility has more to do with operating systems and hardware performance, whereas interoperability has to do with exchange of information and geometry across different software,” Sarkar says.

“Interoperability describes the ability of project parties to deliver reliable and useful information to other stakeholders in a way that avoids unnecessary double-entry or re-creation of specific information,” says Lash of Tekla Structures Division. “This means that data and geometry can be defined in one solution and intelligently used in another solution to progress the project.

On the other hand, compatibility perhaps describes the ability of two programs to generically work together, possibly just side-by-side within a workflow.”

“A software solution might be incompatible with certain file formats (typically proprietary file formats of other vendors), however it can be interoperable with other platforms using open data exchange standards,” Roef points out. “Being interoperable means exchanging data with other stakeholders without loss of relevant information. The focus here is on ‘relevant information’.”

4. What are common challenges in achieving BIM interoperability as opposed to other software interoperability challenges? Please describe.

One common challenge is the size of BIM files that often include many different file types, such as vector-based graphics, raster-based graphics, business properties, scripts, and photographs. “Some of our BIM files, aggregated with reality mesh models and details of models, could be one to 100 gigabytes,” says Smith of Bentley. “It leads to problems with storing, transferring, maintaining, and fixing files because it slows everything down.”

Vectorworks 2019 Architect

“Two common challenges stand out,” said Sarkar. “The first challenge lies as a non-technical problem, and it is when BIM requirements haven’t been explicitly set. A challenge for all parties involved in a BIM project is understanding the scope of work. This means answering questions like: “Who’s the BIM manager for the project?”, “What level of detail are parties modeling to?”, “How are they going to achieve this?”, “How will the BIM model be used?” and so forth. Ensuring a successful process means getting all the stakeholders on the same page by setting up expectations and processes ahead of time and scheduling regular model review meetings to make sure the project and the model are developing smoothly. To help in the process Vectorworks has developed a BIM Implementation Guide to assist firms getting started with BIM.

The second problem focuses more on the technical side. Typical projects have many different players, each having unique BIM needs. For example, some are concerned with the designing and documenting the mechanical systems while others need to plan the appropriate means of egress. Because of this there’s no one BIM program that can cover the BIM process for everyone end-to-end. Project players need to use the program that is best suited for their part of the BIM process. For this reason, achieving interoperability in the AEC market is typically more challenging than, for example, other markets such as MCAD. To solve this problem, the industry and owners are looking more and more for software vendors who can support openBIM, or the ability to exchange BIM models and data via the IFC file format and ISO standard. The UK with their BIM Level 2 initiatives is a good example of this in action, but there are many others.”

“A particularly complex challenge for BIM interoperability is to manage the exchanges between the parametric logic, geometric formula and non-graphic attribution (attribute data) of each BIM software system simultaneously,” says Farber. “Because these aspects of the project intent are represented in very different ways, managing these in interoperability exchanges can be challenging. Other computer software interoperability exchanges may focus on only attribute information or geometry only, potentially making the problem less challenging.”

“Previously, interoperability focused simply on geometry,” says Lash of Tekla. “Today, those objects and lines also have project critical data and metadata associated with them. This data is a huge asset to the project, but also needs to be managed carefully when dealing with multiple programs at once, as many programs use different syntax to describe the same thing. The challenge is ensuring that one program’s syntax can be translated to another program’s syntax. Common data formats and using software that is certified as compatible with those common data formats (BIM Smart Certification for IFC, for instance) can ease this burden.

BIM is often implemented in a phased or fragmentary way, according to Roef. There is a clearly different need for information during the realization / manufacturing than in the design process. The provision of this specific, mostly specialist, information is insufficiently supported in the current BIM-interoperability. “The first steps have been taken to exchange meaningful information – Interoperability via BIM – between disciplines. Compatibility is greatly appreciated during this exchange and will simplify the adoption of new working methods.”

5. How is it possible to maintain interoperability throughout the project lifecycle?

According to Farber, this is a complicated and challenging aspect of managing BIM projects.  Effective tools for maintaining interoperability throughout the project lifecycle include project teams utilizing an Employer Information Requirement (EIR) framework as well as a BIM Execution Plan. These documents describe what information is needed by whom at each stage of the project. This approach helps BIM project teams develop strategies to maintain interoperability across the project lifecycle.

A good example of an EIR is at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers found here:

CIBSE BIM

CIBSE Knowledge Items

A good example of a BIM execution plan can be found at the U.S. Government General Services Administration BIM page:

GSA BIM Execution Plan

“If you consider a project to be design and construction, it’s all about establishing the means of design and data transfer/translation at the beginning of a project and holding to those standards from beginning to end,” says Eichenseer. “If you consider a project to include the ongoing management of the building, full interoperability becomes more difficult as you battle to keep facilities data current. It is still driven by workflow processes and standards – ensuring that your systems for active maintenance of a building can talk to software used to maintain drawings and models.”

“Relying on an open source file format like IFC also contributes to the overall maintenance of the process since the IFC file format is not dependent on a single software or even a software version,” says Sarkar.

“Another file format is Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) — an information exchange specification for the lifecycle capture and delivery of information needed by facility managers — which is quickly becoming more important with the handover of projects. Specifically, COBie is essential to support operations, maintenance and asset management once a building is in service. To address this growing need, Vectorworks Architect 2019 helps with the management of this asset handover by offering bi-directional control.”

“Tekla Structures delivers high LOD information into the project cycle via an open and future proof approach to BIM,” says Lash. “Stakeholders are able to perform high structural LOD workflows in steel, concrete or even timber. Through the ISO Standard IFC, DGN, DWG files, Tekla Structures delivers reliable information to teams using other AEC and industry software solutions and where deep integration is beneficial, through Tekla Open API™, all while maintaining the highest levels of data integrity and accuracy.”

“We need well-defined and documented workflows, understanding why we are using information and where is the right format,” says Smith of Bentley. “We need to have and implement well-defined data management policies and quality control, which is something that people do not pay a lot of attention to. Finally, it is important to have an agreement on the format that project stakeholders would consider data exchanges and measure progress. A lot of this planning is found today in the BIM execution planning guides that you use early on in a project.”

6. What is your view and description of the current BIM levels: BIM Levels 1-3?

Description by Dr. Sarkar of Vectorworks:

 “Level 1 BIM is commonly called the “Lonely BIM” stage, as models are rarely shared among project team members or stakeholders. This level can include a mix of 2D and 3D information. At this level, the information that is exchanged is a minimum of programmatic information and spatial coordination.

Level 2 BIM focuses on collaboration and involves a managed 3D environment with data attached. This data may include 4D (construction sequencing) or 5D (cost) information.

*Read our case study to see how bpr architects used Vectorworks for Level 2 BIM.

Level 3 BIM is sometimes referred to as “Integrated BIM” and is focused on delivering better business outcomes through greater collaboration and planning for the construction process. This includes a single model with 4D, 5D and 6D (project lifecycle) information, as well as facilities management and operation insights for the owner.”

BIM level’s 1-3 are increasing levels of participation, collaboration and sophistication of project teams sharing information on design and construction projects. The aspiration for today is for project teams to use BIM Level 2 methods described here:

BIM Level 2

“The long-term strategic objective of growing into BIM level 3 is provide the ability for sharing BIM data at the BIM object level,” says Farber.

“At Autodesk, we are covering the 3 levels of BIM with an approach called Connected BIM.  For instance, it is already possible to collaborate in real time from different distant servers located on different geographies, both in native and openBIM /IFC format, which is the basis of BIM Level 3.”

“We reference the definitions as presented by the AIA, but these are sometimes adjusted by design/engineering teams to meet individual needs,” says Eichenseer. “There is also a general misunderstanding that a full BIM Project is not a “LOD 200” project, but components within the model that have a LOD assigned to them. You might have Areas/Rooms/Spaces at LOD 300, but furniture at LOD 200 because you care more about space than furniture assets.”

“By demanding within reason that project stakeholders plan their 3D work according to a model progression standard, be it Level 2 BIM, AIA Level of Development (LOD) or a local variant Trimble customers can work with complete confidence that they can deliver to the required level,” says Lash.

“It has been successfully implemented so far but it still needs some improvements before it can be completed,” says Smith of Bentley. “BIM Level 3, which has not been successfully implemented yet and is not resolved, introduces a BIM server that is being optimized at an object level, breaking a model down into all of its individual design components instead of being file-based. It envisions a hosted connected data environment that could be cloud-based. It is still experimental today.”

“The first level is not so difficult and fortunately the implementation of 2D and 3D CAD led to a similarly simple step to BIM Level 2; – where originators produce definition information in models they control,” says Roef of GRAPHISOFT. “Everyone makes clear information requirements and the agreements are recorded using a BIM execution plan. If we disregard the handover of data according to the COBie formats (because these are not yet internationally accepted formats) we can state that BIM level 2, partly due to the use and use of open data formats such as IFC, BCF and IDM, is supported by a large majority of the market.

By some referred to as the holy grail; BIM Level 3 can be seen as a more advanced aggregated project model with construction sequencing (4D), cost (5D) and project lifecycle information (6D). This level has an increased focus on lifecycle management and the use of real time cost and carbon data, according to David Philp in 2015. Because the clients and the building owners are important stakeholders in the entire building process, this focus is understandable. However, this target group does not immediately benefit most from an integrated process, the final profit is – in the short term – still in the business that is achieved in design, engineering and construction. That is why I do not believe in a mandate, but I do believe in a bottom-up approach. The extent to which BIM Level 3 is being accepted by the market has to do with, among other things, the willingness of the parties involved to share information unambiguously, unselfishly and transparently.

It is questionable whether Level 3 will really require a Common Data Environment (CDE) in order to succeed. If that requirement remains, then it will take a long time before the industry actually gets to this level. A CDE is in fact not always necessary to share good, meaningful information.”

7. What are the differences in your understanding, between OpenBIM and OPEN BIM?

“openBIM® is a philosophy and a logo for building SMART International. It’s the openBIM approach we support; as it ensures all software are tested and certified the same way,” says Farber. “It is a neutral standards body for BIM interoperability standards: buildingSMART

OPEN BIM™ is a marketing program of a collection of closely collaborating BIM software vendors that portray Autodesk incorrectly (See Question 1) as a “closed” BIM platform.

Please find different resources at Autodesk BIM Interoperability

“OPEN BIM is a universal approach to the collaborative design, realization and operation of buildings based on open standards and workflows,” says Sarkar. “buildingSMART International provides the global marketplace with the openBIM standard IFC format for BIM interoperability. It is the only open, non-proprietary data exchange standard for the building industry that is comprehensive enough to address the many workflows, processes and stakeholders involved in the design, construction and operations of a building over its entire lifecycle. Since it is an International Standards Organization (ISO) standard, anyone can build tools to read and/or write IFC data, including BIM authoring, simulation and analysis, viewing and data server platforms.”

“The difference between OPEN BIM and BIM does not actually exist, OPEN BIM is used to indicate the use of OpenBIM standards, as defined, developed and monitored by buildingSMART,” says Roef. “We now have to explain OPEN BIM less and less, since applying and using OpenBIM standards is becoming commonplace in the industry.”

8. What is your experience with IFC implementations?

IMAGINiT finds IFC implementations inconsistent. “We’ll tend to avoid them when possible so that everyone on a project is working in the same base platform,” says Eichenseer. “When IFCs need to be used, testing the translation from software 1 to software 2 is essential.”

A leading Danish contractor measured that the success of a project was improved when IFC, was a given deliverable, along with other contractual deliverables. “Curiously, the side effect was far higher quality drawings and schedules as the team focused on driving data from the model, not by faking the drawings despite the model,” says Lash.  (A Driver for Design Quality in the AEC Industry)

“We have worked with clients around the world on a wide variety of projects implementing IFC solutions for buildings, roads, bridges, tunnels and other engineered infrastructures,” says Farber. “We support IFC in import and export of data with the following software titles (below) many of which are officially certified by buildingSMART International.”

Autodesk BIM Interoperability

A Revit IFC guide has been developed to help Revit users in their IFC workflows (direct link Revit IFC Handbook )

“We are a founding member of buildingSMART’s initiative to drive ‘the transformation of the built asset economy through creation and adoption of open, international standards,’” says Sarkar.

As part of the Nemetschek Group, one of the largest contributors of IFC and a supporter of open standards, they work with their sister brands, including SCIA for structural and civil engineering and fabrication; DDS-CAD for MEP; Solibri for model-based data validation, quality assurance and data mining; and Bluebeam for PDF-based workflows, collaboration and document management, to make sharing the necessary information to take a project from concept to construction faster, easier and more economical.

“Our experience with IFC has been extremely positive,” said Sarkar. “We feel that if the industry wants to successfully work with an openBIM workflow, IFC is a critical requirement. We are continually improving the Vectorworks user experience with IFC by tightly integrating IFC requirements into the foundation of Vectorworks. This means that IFC exchange can happen with even the most minimal effort in Vectorworks. We have made some great improvements in Vectorworks 2019.”

“It has to do with model management and data quality,” says Smith of Bentley. “If people are sloppy with their modeling and there is no consistency in graphical format, the underpinning data models are sloppy, and things will not work. Completeness and quality are dependent on graphical modeling and data management quality. I do not think that we should underestimate its capability, but my experience is that it has to be well-managed. It is also dependent on the quality of the applications to support IFC export and import.”

GRAPHISOFT has been one of the pioneers to implement and support IFC model exchange in its solutions since 1996.

ARCHICAD has passed all certifications (IFC2x3 CV1.0/CV2.0, COBie) relevant for an architectural software and in BIM interoperability. They are working on certifying the latest available IFC standard (IFC4 RV (Reference View)) among the first.

“GRAPHISOFT is a member of the buildingSMART’s ISG (Implementation Support Group), so we not just implementing IFC but proactively forming the IFC schema and MVD (Model View Definition) content and requirements with other software vendor members to set high-quality IFC-based collaboration based on our users’ and their partners’ needs,” says Roef. “In general, we can say that IFC based collaboration is now a daily practice for many of our users.  Based on their feedback, IFC works well if a detailed collaboration agreement is accepted by all project stakeholders.”

On the other hand, there are still many challenges that IFC developers have to solve in the near future:

o   No schema-change allowed during the implementation period, and no step back to design state is allowed. So, more iterative/agile development process should be introduced instead.

o   The current IFC (4) schema is very complicated, several simplifications could be done (but no schema change is allowed!)

o   No performance criterion settled for I/O processes (and in certification)

GRAPHISOFT is working closely together with buildingSMART to overcome these issues and streamline the IFC based collaboration workflows.

9. What are the advantages as well as disadvantages of BIM interoperability?

Autodesk Revit

According to IMAGINiT:

Advantages = reduced rework, increased coordination and collaboration, increased communication, increased quality of work.

Disadvantages = the potential for doing more than is needed for the project or deliverable and wasting time. This potential disadvantage is significantly outweighed by the potential benefits.

“The advantages of BIM interoperability are that no one single software vendor can cover all aspects of any sizable AEC project,” says Farber. “Information always needs to be shared through the all stakeholders of the projects. Interoperability allows for this. A disadvantage is that in order to effectively share information, planning is required. Using the mentioned EIR and BIM Execution Plans facilitate the planning necessary to share information across a project effectively. Finally, one of the big advantages of BIM interoperability – if managed properly – is that it allows the BIM model to be used for operation and maintenance purposes in some specific FM applications.”

“A disadvantage that is often cited in this process is the loss of “intelligence” that the individual BIM authoring program provides,” says Sarkar of Vectorworks. “However, in many cases this data, while necessary for a specific BIM task, is not necessary for the larger BIM process. For example, structural engineers perform and provide structural calculations, but for the BIM process, what is needed is an accurate model of the structure with the proper sizing information that others can leverage, not the calculation report.

Another disadvantage that can also be overcome through proper planning is that of model ownership. In many instances, the expectation of model exchange is that when a BIM model created in one application is brought into another application, it must be editable. However, is this a best practice? Model ownership and liability or responsibility of changing and owning information can be resolved with a BIM Execution Plan.

In terms of advantages, there are many. Some of the biggest ones are the early collaboration and coordination that BIM interoperability allows, especially when each project stakeholder is using a different software. This far outweighs some of the other perceived challenges.”

“We believe in a mixed environment of purpose-specific systems communicating effectively using information models, commonly agreed processes and methods, and shared terminology” says Lash. “BIM interoperability provides greater flexibility in determining the most efficient and productive workflow for a project.”

“Some advantages include information reuse and saving time with data exchange,” says Smith of Bentley. “However, educating the industry about automated design and BIM processes, and how our skill sets fit in with this automation, will be important to consider too.”

“The disadvantage of BIM interoperability is that people tend to forget to think about the requirements of other stakeholders,” says Roef of GRAPHISOFT. “Once again, BIM is a demand-driven process and as soon as everyone starts to see that, the collaboration is probably going a lot better. Let each person think about their own nomenclature that can ultimately be accommodated in a shared library by means of a buildingSMART standard.”

10. What are the goals of BIM interoperability?

“One goal is that it makes project data available to users that need it, when they need it, in the required format,” says Smith of Bentley. “It is very helpful for large projects where people are using different formats and helps users get the right data to the right people so that they can contribute to the project. It also allows people to use their tool of choice and use the applications that they want, as the designers’ toolkit includes many different applications to accomplish their work. Another goal of BIM interoperability is to optimize sharing, resulting in saving time and money, and improving the trustworthiness of data by improving the quality of data exchanges.”

According to Roef of GRAPHISOFT: “Sharing information via models with precise geometry and valuable/meaningful data (loss of relevant data is not allowed) among the participants of common BIM project, who are using their own tools to do the best by their profession.

In general, if an AEC project stakeholder wants to enjoy the benefits that BIM can provide, interoperability is a must. BIM works best when the different disciplines coordinate their design, meaningful data is available and accessible for the specialists, contractor, and of course the owner. In this case sharing and exchanging BIM information requires a cooperative approach. BIM interoperability provides the technology platform for this cooperation-based environment.”

“BIM is about creating a digital 3D environment in which design and construction problems can be more easily solved,” says Sarkar of Vectorworks. “This goal requires interoperability between many software programs due to the nature of the construction process and the complexity of coordinating multiple disciplines.”

“An important goal of interoperability is to provide quality information at the right time, with the correct level of detail, to the correct person, that will be making decisions on that particular aspect of on an AEC project and to do this in the simplest way possible, with no need to have a specific software to read the information,” Brian Farber of Autodesk says.

Autodesk

Bentley Systems

GRAPHISOFT

Trimble

Vectorworks

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Categories: AEC, AEC training, AECCafe, apps, Archicad, architecture, Architecture 2030, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, BIM, building information modeling, buildingSMART, civil information modeling, Cloud, COBie, collaboration, construction, construction project management, engineering, field, field solutions, file sharing, IES, IFC, infrastructure, integrated project delivery, mobile, Nemetschek, openBIM, point clouds, project management, reality capture, render farms, rendering, sustainable design, Tekla, Trimble, Vectorworks, virtual reality, visualization

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