Gareth Boyes

3rd Year PhD Student Research Topic –

Supervisor: Dr. Claire Ellul Requirements for defined

Industrial Supervisor: Daniel Irwin spaces in Infrastructure
Asset Management
.
Building Information
Modelling
Common Data
The process of designing,
constructing or operating a • Designing
Environment
building or infrastructure(CDE)
asset
using electronic object-oriented • Constructing
information

(PAS 1192-2:2013)
• Operating
Common Data
Environment
Common Data used
Single source of information
• Documentation
to collect, manage and
Environment
disseminate Common Data (CDE) • Graphical Information
Environment (CDE)
relevant and approved project • Non-graphical
documents for multi-disciplinary
teams in a managed process Information

(PAS 1192-2:2013)
Common Data • Electronic Information
Environment Management System
Common Data used
Single source of information
• Asset Information
to collect, manage and
Environment
disseminate Common Data (CDE) Management System
Environment (CDE)
relevant and approved project • CAD Management
documents for multi-disciplinary System
teams in a managed process
• Geographical Information
(PAS 1192-2:2013) System
Common Data
Environment
• Bentley eB
Common Data used
Single source of information
to collect, manage and • Bentley ProjectWise/
Environment
disseminate Common Data (CDE) Bentley MicroStation
Environment (CDE)
relevant and approved project • Oracle Spatial
documents for multi-disciplinary
teams in a managed process • ArcGIS
(PAS 1192-2:2013)
Bentley ProjectWise
• Controls access to folders
File-based management system and files

• Manages file
authentication and
approval workflow in
accordance with BS 1192

• Enforces BS1192 naming

system and metadata
Bentley MicroStation
• DGN file format
A proprietary CAD suite for
creating, editing and visualising • BIM extensions
2D drawings and 3D models
— Bentley Architecture
Functionality for creating and
managing BIM objects is acquired — Bentley Structural Modeller
by installing extensions to the — Building Electrical Systems
core package
— Building Mechanical Systems

• AECOsim Building
Designer
.
Requirement

In order to advance Extract information

research in integration of from file-based systems
BIM / GIS, there is a
requirement to: Transform geometry
E - Extract
Load to object-based
T - Transform systems
L - Load
Requirement

In order to advance To manage, analyse and

research in integration of visualise 3D geometric
BIM / GIS, there is a features within a 3D GIS
requirement to:
.
Extraction

Information can be • Native DGN file format

extracted from Bentley
MicroStation v8 • IFC Exporter
(with BIM extensions) • 3rd Party format
using the following
• Text file via MVBA script
methods
• Text file via MDL script
 Extracting via DGN
Advantage Disadvantage
• Native file format • FME cannot read
• μS Element ID retained surfaces
• Appearance (e.g. colour) (BIM object geometry
retained most commonly exported
as surfaces)
• Cell objects de-
aggregated into
component elements
• Issues related to curved
surfaces
 Extracting via IFC
Advantage Disadvantage
• Semantic information • Conversion process
exported degrades information
• μS Element ID retained • Level information lost
• Appearance lost
• Unreliable geometry
export
• FME struggles to read
corrupted IFC geometry
Ceiling geometry (as it should be)
Ceiling geometry (as exported via IFC)
 Extracting via AutoCAD DWG
Advantage Disadvantage
• Very well supported by • Conversion process
FME degrades information
• μS Element ID lost
• Cell objects de-
aggregated into
component elements
• Unreliable geometry
export
 Extracting via SketchUp
Advantage Disadvantage
• Appearance (e.g. colour) • Conversion process
retained degrades information
• Level information retained • Objects converted to B-
rep
• Complex curved
geometry can overwhelm
FME
 Extracting via MVBA Script
Advantage Disadvantage
• μS Element ID retained • Surface geometry data
• Level information retained not readable
• Geometry bounding • Appearance (e.g. colour)
volume can be extracted info not reliable
• Limited documentation on
BIM objects
 Extracting via MDL Script
Advantage Disadvantage
• Surfaces readable • Extensive developer skill
• μS Element ID retained and experience required
• Appearance info retained • Limited documentation
and support
.
Challenge #1

SketchUp features do not Workaround: MicroStation

retain MicroStation level name is stored in
Element IDs features as a geometry trait

Solution: Run MVBA script

changing level name to
Element ID
GeometryPropertyExtractor
Challenge #2

Changing MicroStation Solution: Export model with

level removes level-based appearance before running
appearance MVBA script then merge
using FME workspace
Challenge #3

Exporting via SketchUp Solution: Read IFC file (with

loses semantic information
Bounding Box geometry)
and merge in FME
Workspace
GeometryPropertyExtractor
Challenge #4

Exporting not 100% Solution: Use MVBA script

reliable
to write CSV file containing
each Element ID to
establish benchmark of all
elements
Challenge #5

IFC geometry sometimes Solution: Manually identify

more preferable to
SketchUp geometry SketchUp features to
replaced by IFC geometry
Challenge #6

Reading bad IFC geometry Solution: Parse IFC file

crashes FME
using Python script writing
separate IFC file for each
element. Use FME
Workspace runner to read
each IFC element and write
to MultiPatch
Challenge #7

NeighborFinder Solution: Use Group By to

transformer limited to 2D
find neighbours with
identical height information
Challenge #8

Managing appearance Solution: Use

information
AppearanceExtractor,
AppearanceStyler and
AppearanceSetter
transformers
AppearanceExtractor
AppearanceSetter
Load

Upload to appropriate • ESRI Geodatabase

storage
with unique ID • Oracle ArcSDE
• Oracle SDO_Geometry
Source file
• BIM Server
Version
μS Element ID

also IFC GUID (128-bit)

 Merging Information

Read
Merge Merge IFC Write to
Elements Merge IFC
SketchUp geometry required
from MVBA attributes
geometry (if preferred) format
derived CSV

Check all elements

have geometry &
attributes
 1a. – Read features directly from IFC -
1b. Parse IFC and read output from CSV
2. Read in elements parsed by MicroStation VBA
3. Read in SketchUp geometry (with level info)
4. Read in SketchUp geometry (with appearance info)
5. Feed in manual MicroStation IDs (for geometries missing ID)
 Successfully
Merged

MicroStation VBA
Elements &
IFC Attributes Geometry
without uS ID

uS ID
without geometry

SketchUp Geometry

6. Merge geometry using MicroStationID

7. Merge geometry using Centre Point
8. Read IFC geometry
 9a. Merge IFC geometries (if required) and export
9b. Inspector outputs used to identify manual “tweeking”
Ticket Hall in ArcScene
In Summary
• More reliable geometry
cf. IFC exporter

The developed workspace • Original appearance from

achieves the following MicroStation in ArcScene
objectives: • Element ID information
and ability to trace
geometries back to
source

• BIM property information