A review of BIM data exchange method in BIM collaboration

Abstract

Nowadays, building information modeling (BIM) plays a crucial role in project collaboration. BIM information should be freely exchanged among different stakeholders for the purpose of collaboration. With the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), there are many novel data exchange methods for BIM information exchange. However, little literature has attempted to review the current status of BIM data exchange methods. This study aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the status quo of BIM data exchange methods, including file-based method, cloud-based method, and three local data exchange methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are identified. This paper reveals that more efforts should be paid for enhancing the capability to deal with large Industry Foundation Class (IFC) files; a more stable, consistent identifier that can uniquely and easily identify an object should be developed; more opportunity in integrating BIM with some emerging technologies, like blockchain, should be seized to solve the problems in BIM data exchange. This study presents an in-depth analysis of the current BIM data exchange method and helps the industry and academia to identify the existing gaps