Műszaki Tudományos Közlemények vol. 12. (2020) 42–49. DOI English: https://doi.org/10.33894/mtk-2020.12.06 Hungarian: https://doi.org/10.33895/mtk-2020.12.06 THE ROOTS OF BIM Ferdinánd-Zsongor GOBESZ Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Facultyof Civil Engineering, Department of Structural Mechanics, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, [email protected] Abstract Today's architectural and civil engineering design is almost inconceivable without collaborative tools. Build- ing Information Modeling supports this with a set of collaboratively usable data. The roots of this concept go back in the past, thus the present paper attempts to depict some of the milestones in its evolution. Keywords: building, information, modeling, history. 1. Introduction 2. Product data evolution In most simple terms, BIM (Building Informa- The first technical drawing book [7] was pub- tion Modeling) is a digital representation of the lished in France towards the end of the 18th physical and functional characteristics of a build- century, opening the way for technical graph- ics. Technical drawing has become one of the ing [1] in a unified model which can be applied, pillars of engineering design. On the one hand, managed and used in collaboration by all the it was able to show the structures in parts, and actors in the construction industry. Its practical on the other hand, it provided a more detailed application is through computer-aided software product description (specifying more accurately packages, be it planning, construction manage- the product data). Computer-aided design was ment, valuation, operation and maintenance, or also based on graphic design at first. Comput- other building-related activities. By incorporating er graphics offered more advantages than hand all the physical and functional characteristics of drawing in terms of tracking design changes and a building into a manageable model, there are storing design data. Although it was easy enough to make additional sketches or write comments many benefits. Perhaps the most important of and suggestions on hand drawings, interpreting these is the accuracy of the model's design, as it them required more cumbersome work. In en- avoids constraints and shortcomings in construc- gineering companies where technical activities tion that require intervention at the expense of involved not only design but also manufacturing quality, cost, and execution time. or maintenance, hand drawings did not provide The idea of such computer modeling of struc- sufficient productivity. The situation was similar tures began to materialize in the early 1970s, and in the technical production chains, where several in the mid-1980s articles were published in which companies were involved in the design, imple- practical possibilities and relevant examples mentation and maintenance of a product. When different CAD / CAM tools were used, data conver- were discussed [2, 3]. The term "Building Infor- sions hampered effective collaboration. Thus, the mation Models" appeared first in a paper publis- need arose to develop a neutral intermediate for- hed in 1992 [4], but it has come into the public mat that would facilitate data exchange between awareness in 2002 (through a White Paper pub- multiple computer sys-tems. lished by Autodesk [5]) The origination of the BIM The AICMA was founded in Paris in 1950, and abbreviation is attributed to Jerry Laiserin [6]. was renamed AECMA (Association européenne Gobesz F.-Zs. – Műszaki Tudományos Közlemények 12. (2020) 43 des constructeurs de matériel aérospatial) in 1973. tive was to develop standards and technologies In 1977, a data exchange format was proposed by that would enable product data to be controlled this association to allow cooperating companies and exchanged across various computing sys- to communicate surface geometries. Although tems. This group focused on two main projects, applied in some cases, it has been forgotten over which resulted in IGES and PDES (Product Data time [8]. Exchange Specification)[9] . In the 1970s, the ANSI (American National Stan- In Germany, in 1982, the Automobile Manu-fac- dards Institute) “X3 / SPARC” committee began ex- turers Association developed the VDA-FS (Verband ploring how data could be described, regardless der Automobilindustrie – Flachenschnittstelle) of the application or computer technology used. format for curves and surfaces of any shape to This committee proposed a three-schema meth- increase the efficiency and applicability of CAD odology whereby different views (conceptual, / CAM systems in design processes [8]. Thus, Ger- internal and external) of the same information many has also contributed to the standardization could be applied using a variety of filters by users of international product data models. on different computer technologies [8]. Also in 1982, ideas for the development of com- Based on the ANSI / X3 / SPARC methodology, the puter-aided construction tools were launched in US Air Force has developed an information mod- Finland, as such, in 1983 RACAD (Finnish abbrevi- eling process as a result of the “Integrated Com- ation of the “Computer Aided Design Construction puter Aided Manufacturing” (ICAM) pro-gram. Council”) and VTT (Finnish abbreviation of the ICAM's goal was to develop new manufacturing “Technical Research Center”) published a study automation technologies that could reduce over- on integrated computer aided design [10]. As a all procurement costs. ICAM and sub-sequent result of the somewhat parallel activities of these projects, including the “Product Definition Data two organizations, the RATAS (Finnish abbrevia- Interface” (PDDI) and the “Geometric Modeling tion of “Computer Assisted Design of Buildings”) Application” (GMAP) projects, have greatly con- project was conducted between 1985 and 1991. tributed to the development of tools and proce- Its proposals were related to the data transfer dures that have been incorporated into later stan- format structures, according to which there could dards. be used any data structures within the applica- The CAM-I (Computer-Aided Manufacturing - tions provided that suitable filtering programs International Inc.) organization contributed sig- are given for digital data exchange. A rule-based nificantly to the development of B-REP (Bound- knowledge description language and a generic ary Representation) data structures through a data model framework have also been developed. geometric modeling project started in the early 1970s. The result of the work funded by CAM-I, The proposal for a standard concerning product which was basically a mathematical represen- data transfer assumed one-by-one handling of the tation of standard geometry and topology, was objects and suggested the use of a programming well ahead of its time because it clearly contained language with syntax similar to LISP [10]. more information than the CAD systems of that The French SET (Standard d'Echange et de Trans- time could interpret. The CAM-I specification fo- fer) project was launched in 1983 within Aérospa- cused on the essential description of interchange- tial [8]. It has been developed to address IGES ap- able data, disregarding the exchange mechanism. plication problems, primarily for the automotive This description has been submitted to the “ANSI and aerospace production industries. SET reflect- Y 14.26” (Computer Aided Preparation of Product ed the requirements for data exchange between Definition Data) committee [8]. In 1980, NBS (Na- different CAD and CAM systems and the demands tional Bureau of Standards) published the “NBSIR for digital data storage. 80-1978” standard for digital representation of By 1984, all these international efforts had yield- product data specification for communications, ed so many comparable results that the possibili- which was approved as the first version of ANSI ty of developing a common solution for CAD data IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specification), as exchange emerged. The main driving forces for a neutral data block format that controls digital this common international standard were[8]: data exchange between different CAD systems. – global trade and data exchange; In the late 1970s, a group was formed in the – increasingly complex products; United States under the joint control of the in- – multipurpose software (for example, design dustry, government and universities. Its objec- or engineering software systems that could be 44 Gobesz F.-Zs. – Műszaki Tudományos Közlemények 12. (2020) used across multiple industries and various ac- 1998 a more advanced mark-up language named tivities); XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The spread – trust in suppliers at all stages of product devel- and use of this new language led to several ap- opment; plications, also in the field of construction, such – the need for product life-cycle support. as aecXML (Architecture, Engineering and Con- Many felt that IGES could not meet these needs. struction XML), started by Bentley Systems and As a result of international results, the first “Prod- then developed by the IAI for the construction uct Data Exchange Specification” (PDES) was re- industry. The “eConstruct” project (IST-1999- leased in the United States in July 1984, followed 10303) was launched in Europe in the late 1990s. by a second version in November. These were Within this framework, bcXML (Building and later merged with the STEP (STandard for the Construction XML) was developed, which be- Exchange of Product model data) specification came a taxonomy and lexicon based system [13]. developed by the