Open BIM Program For Improved AEC Collaboration
March 14, 2012

Open BIM Program For Improved AEC Collaboration

BuildingSMART International (www.buildingsmart.org.uk), members of the Nemetschek Group, Tekla and other leading software vendors joined forces to launch a global program to help promote Open BIM collaboration workflows throughout the AEC industry.
Open BIM is a universal approach to the collaborative design, realization and operation of buildings based on open standards and workflows. BuildingSMART is a neutral, international and unique not-for-profit industry alliance supporting open BIM through the life cycle of a building. Open BIM is an initiative of BuildingSMART and several leading software vendors using the open BuildingSMART Data Model.

The Open BIM approach offers key benefits to the stakeholders of building projects:

- Workflow integration results in greatly reduced coordination errors compared to sheer file exchange-based coordination of the different disciplines.

- Project members can work with the best-of-breed solutions in their respective fields without risking “incompatibility” hence exclusion from certain BIM projects.

- Project members can maintain full control over software upgrades independently from their peers on the different AEC projects they participate in.

- Accessibility of BIM data is provided for the entire lifecycle of buildings including design, construction and operation.

The Open BIM (www.openbim.com) program’s aim is to help coordinate efforts related to the promotion and implementation of Open BIM collaboration workflows by providing common definitions, requirements and branding. AEC software vendors, AEC practices (designers, engineers, contractors) as well as AEC projects are all welcome to participate and use the OPEN BIM logo as a promise of successful and streamlined collaboration.

Companies participating in the Open BIM program from Day 1 include BuildingSMART International; Nemetschek companies including GRAPHISOFT, Nemetschek Allplan, Nemetschek Vectorworks Inc., Nemetschek Scia; as well as Tekla a Trimble company and Data Design System.