ARCHITECTURE FOR IMPLEMENTING IFC-BASED ONLINE CONSTRUCTION PRODUCT LIBRARIES

Abstract

Construction product information providers have responded to the demand for electronic delivery\nby providing online access, CD-ROMs and DVDs but these solutions have limited usability and are generally\nincapable of supporting prevalent and emerging industry practices. The product library implementations attempt\nto replicate the functionalities of the paper versions, which serve for independent specification and procurement\nbut gives little thought to teams and tools integration through support for automated information exchange and\nsharing. The IFC standard provides common terminologies, technologies, syntax and semantics necessary to\naddress present and future compatibility and integration issues, hence IFC-based implementation of product\nlibraries have good prospect for meeting the industry requirements. This paper reviews current product\ninformation delivery methods and examines the applicability of the IFC and other standards. The requirements\nfor IFC-based construction product libraries are identified and an architecture for realising the requirements\nwas presented.