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Industry Foundation Classes
The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a CAD data exchange data schema intended for description of architectural, building and construction industry data (ABCII). The IFC file format is based on ISO 10303-21 standard and definitions of ABCII are documented by using underlying EXPRESS.
It is a platform-neutral, open data schema specification that is not controlled by a single vendor or group of vendors. It is an object-based data schema with a data model developed by buildingSMART (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability, IAI) to facilitate interoperability in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, and is a commonly used collaboration format in Building information modeling (BIM) based projects. The IFC model specification is open and available. It is registered by ISO and is an official International Standard ISO 16739-1:2024.
Because of its focus on interoperability the Danish government in 2010 made the use of IFC format(s) compulsory for publicly aided building projects. In 2017 the Finnish state-owned facility management company Senate Properties started to demand use of IFC compatible software and BIM in all their projects. Also the Norwegian Government, Health and Defense client organisations require use of IFC BIM in all projects as well as many municipalities, private clients, contractors and designers have integrated IFC BIM in their business.[citation needed]. The popularity of the IFC data schema in construction has continued to grow, primarily for the purpose of exchanging geometry.
The IFC initiative began in 1994, when Autodesk formed an industry consortium to advise the company on the development of a set of C++ classes that could support integrated application development. Twelve US companies joined the consortium. These companies included AT&T, HOK Architects, Honeywell, Carrier, Tishman and Butler Manufacturing. Initially named the Industry Alliance for Interoperability, the Alliance opened membership to all interested parties in September, 1995 and changed its name in 1997 to the International Alliance for Interoperability. The new Alliance was reconstituted as a non-profit industry-led organization, with the goal of publishing the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) as a neutral AEC product model responding to the AEC building lifecycle. A further name change occurred in 2005, and the IFC specification is now developed and maintained by buildingSMART.
The following IFC Specification versions are available
IFC defines multiple file formats that may be used, supporting various encodings of the same underlying data.
IFC-SPF is in ASCII format which, while human-readable, suffers from common ASCII file issues, in that file-sizes are bloated, files must be read sequentially from start to finish, mid-file extraction is not possible, files are slow to parse, and definitions are non-hierarchical. In addition to ifcXML and ifcZIP, modern data formats include RDF/XML or Turtle (using the ifcOWL ontology), ifcJSON (JavaScript Object Notation, broadly available) and ifcHDF5 (Hierarchical Data Format v5, binary). In 2020, buildingSmart had two JSON projects underway: ifcJSON v4 (a direct mapping from EXPRESS-based IFC v4) and ifcJSON v5, plus a research project experimenting with turning IFC into a binary format.
IFC defines an EXPRESS based entity-relationship model consisting of several hundred entities organized into an object-based inheritance hierarchy. Examples of entities include building elements such as IfcWall, geometry such as IfcExtrudedAreaSolid, and basic constructs such as IfcCartesianPoint.
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Industry Foundation Classes
The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a CAD data exchange data schema intended for description of architectural, building and construction industry data (ABCII). The IFC file format is based on ISO 10303-21 standard and definitions of ABCII are documented by using underlying EXPRESS.
It is a platform-neutral, open data schema specification that is not controlled by a single vendor or group of vendors. It is an object-based data schema with a data model developed by buildingSMART (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability, IAI) to facilitate interoperability in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, and is a commonly used collaboration format in Building information modeling (BIM) based projects. The IFC model specification is open and available. It is registered by ISO and is an official International Standard ISO 16739-1:2024.
Because of its focus on interoperability the Danish government in 2010 made the use of IFC format(s) compulsory for publicly aided building projects. In 2017 the Finnish state-owned facility management company Senate Properties started to demand use of IFC compatible software and BIM in all their projects. Also the Norwegian Government, Health and Defense client organisations require use of IFC BIM in all projects as well as many municipalities, private clients, contractors and designers have integrated IFC BIM in their business.[citation needed]. The popularity of the IFC data schema in construction has continued to grow, primarily for the purpose of exchanging geometry.
The IFC initiative began in 1994, when Autodesk formed an industry consortium to advise the company on the development of a set of C++ classes that could support integrated application development. Twelve US companies joined the consortium. These companies included AT&T, HOK Architects, Honeywell, Carrier, Tishman and Butler Manufacturing. Initially named the Industry Alliance for Interoperability, the Alliance opened membership to all interested parties in September, 1995 and changed its name in 1997 to the International Alliance for Interoperability. The new Alliance was reconstituted as a non-profit industry-led organization, with the goal of publishing the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) as a neutral AEC product model responding to the AEC building lifecycle. A further name change occurred in 2005, and the IFC specification is now developed and maintained by buildingSMART.
The following IFC Specification versions are available
IFC defines multiple file formats that may be used, supporting various encodings of the same underlying data.
IFC-SPF is in ASCII format which, while human-readable, suffers from common ASCII file issues, in that file-sizes are bloated, files must be read sequentially from start to finish, mid-file extraction is not possible, files are slow to parse, and definitions are non-hierarchical. In addition to ifcXML and ifcZIP, modern data formats include RDF/XML or Turtle (using the ifcOWL ontology), ifcJSON (JavaScript Object Notation, broadly available) and ifcHDF5 (Hierarchical Data Format v5, binary). In 2020, buildingSmart had two JSON projects underway: ifcJSON v4 (a direct mapping from EXPRESS-based IFC v4) and ifcJSON v5, plus a research project experimenting with turning IFC into a binary format.
IFC defines an EXPRESS based entity-relationship model consisting of several hundred entities organized into an object-based inheritance hierarchy. Examples of entities include building elements such as IfcWall, geometry such as IfcExtrudedAreaSolid, and basic constructs such as IfcCartesianPoint.