IFC-Based Product Catalog Formalization for Software Interoperability in the Construction Management Domain

Interoperability of the heterogeneous applications used in the domain of construction management can be best achieved by using generalized and standardized representations of the needed product data together with the data from product catalog, thereby enabling faster and better management and decision-making in terms of cost efficient building element selection. However, even though various solution approaches have been proposed in the last years, a general approach based on an acknowledged building information model standard is still missing. In this paper, a new product catalog structure complying with the data schema of the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard is presented. It allows for coherent integration of product and cost information, helping to achieve the interoperability of the involved actors and tools in collaborative project environments. The essence of the developed interoperability approach is in the consistent definition of a new IFC View for product catalogues that pulls together the needed product, cost, and management data.