Bridging BIM and Path-Finding Algorithms: A Systematic Review and Analysis of Escape Route Generation

This article systematically analyzes and discusses the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in generating emergency escape routes within buildings. It is motivated by Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), that aims to achieve long-term sustainability of human settlements, enhancing the safety and disaster resilience of the built environment. Following the PRISMA methodology, this study consolidates current research on BIM-based path planning to establish a structured, comprehensive framework for BIM-to-route workflows. Our findings indicate that BIM operates as a central “source of truth” platform, successfully integrating spatial geometry, enriched semantic data, and real-time sensor information to enable dynamic, risk-aware rerouting that extends beyond conventional static shortest-path logic. However, the existing literature remains fragmented, characterized by a lack of standardized system architectures, inconsistent evaluation metrics, and persistent interoperability challenges. Furthermore, validation strategies are predominantly simulation-based (57.6%), with only 7.6% of reviewed studies achieving real-world operational validation. To fully realize the safety benefits of these technologies, future research must prioritize the standardization of data extraction, graph network construction, and evaluation metric sets, while expanding empirical validation using real-incident data across a wider spectrum of hazard scenarios.