Do you agree? 

Here is a more complete quote:
One of the biggest practical obstacles to effective diffusion of BIM in the industry is the lack of data exchange standards and associated protocols. The Industry Foundation Class (IFC) definitions being developed by BuildingSMART will be useful, but will probably be used mainly as an archive format. IFC is too complex, too large, and too fragile to survive in the real world of live projects. Commercial IT companies are much more likely to produce a robust solution in this situation than committees of experts.
So why not accept the facts as they are and recognise Revit (for now) as a de facto industry standard? We can allow or incentivise Autodesk to licence the Revit file format—perhaps one or two versions late—on a FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) basis to its competitors, and use competition law to regulate the situation. (It’s important in this to separate out the idea of data interoperability from application interoperability—how different systems store data from how they represent the behaviours of data objects. The first can probably reasonably be made public, the second probably not.)

Read the entire article at:
Beyond BIM – Building With Perfect Information: AECbytes Viewpoint #64

Image from aecbytes.com

scientific investigation demands repeatability of results that can only be achieved by sharing of experimental models. A common set of building models could reduce the time required for researcher data collection and facilitate associated research and education.

via
bSa Common Building Information Model Files | The National Institute of Building Sciences

Direct links copied from above page below:

Model 1. The Duplex Apartment Model (release 2.0)

The duplex apartment model was originally created by a student who developed this building as part of a design competition. This model was first used at the Dec 2009 COBie Challenge event. The model provided here is the second version of this model completed by designers at Kristine Fallon and Associates.

2011-09-14-Duplex-COBie-DesignStage
2011-09-14-Duplex-IFC
2011-09-14-Duplex-IFCAnalyzer
2011-09-14-Duplex-PDF
2011-09-14-Duplex-RVT
2011-10-04-Duplex-COBie-HandoverStage

Model 2. Office Building Model

The two story office building model was developed based on the published sample floor plans for a specific type of mid-size office building built in the United States.

2011-09-14-Office-COBie
2011-09-14-Office-IFC
2011-09-14-Office-IFCAnalyzer
2011-09-14-Office-PDF
2011-09-14-Office-RVT

Model 3. Clinic Building Model

The Clinic Model was developed based on an actual federal medical and dental clinic building at a location in the South-West United States. The model also comes with a set of redacted design drawings. A full set of operations and maintenance manuals are also available but have not yet been redacted, so cannot yet, be posted to this public repository.

2011-09-14-Clinic-RedactedDrawings
2011-09-14-Clinic-COBie
2011-09-14-Clinic-IFC
2011-09-14-Clinic-IFCAnalyzer
2011-09-14-Clinic-PDF
2011-09-14-Clinic-RVT



Heads up via:
CAD addict: Common Building Information Model Files from the BuildingSmart Alliance

Jose doesn’t seem to think they are super-important:

Outside of Revit there are tools for managing and finding families that are more powerful and faster than any naming convention would ever allow anyone to do. And these tools have only started showing up. I’m certain that within a year there will be more options available than published naming standards.

Inside of Revit things could quickly change as well. I don’t have any specific knowledge of how or if Autodesk plans to sort out the challenges of finding families within the project browser (and if I did, I wouldn’t be able to tell you), but anyone can see that the current solution is sub-par. An improvement could come as soon as within a few months.

via
Andekan � Blog

And Jose, I certainly agree that ‘the current solution is sub-par…’

The review process for the NATSPEC National BIM Guide has been completed and it is now available for use.
Learn more about the project or download the NATSPEC National BIM Guide document set v1.0. [390 KB]
The associated NATSPEC BIM Object/Element Matrix can be downloaded separately here. [4 MB]

NATSPEC is a specification framework that is widely used here in Australia.  I received an email from Mark Cronin today that alerted me to the significant number of BIM related resources they have developed or facilited.

The main portal link is:
NATSPEC BIM Portal

On the projects page you can find links to a number of other resources, such as:
NATSPEC BIM Scheduling project
Start date: 2010 Status: Complete
NATSPEC undertook this project as an initial response to subscribers’ requests to develop a standardised Australian practice for the exchange of digital building information. The goal of the project is to recommend a consistent, systematic approach to allocating properties to BIM objects to facilitate the generation of useful schedules.
View pages about the project
or download the project report.

Further information on BIM scheduling can be found at the Resources page

buildingSMART BIM survey
Start date: 2010 Status: Complete
NATSPEC hosted a survey on current patterns of use of BIM in Australia as part of the economic study commissioned by the Australian Government’s Built Environment Industry Innovation Council (BEIIC) to examine the potential for BIM to improve the productivity of the building sector. (See BEIIC BIM Economic study.)
See a summary of the survey results in Chapter 5 of the BEIIC study report
. Click on link at bottom of page to download

Thanks again to Mark Cronin for the heads-up on this one!

An interesting little article that relates to the food service industry and the fact that Revit is something they may not want, but will have to deal with.

Because Revit was not specifically developed for the foodservice industry, it presents a steep learning curve for design consultants and equipment distribution channel companies. This concern is reinforced by the fact that no single standard for Revit applications to foodservice facility design projects has yet emerged, leaving industry members to sort among different erstwhile providers claims and features to determine whether to go with “VCR” or “BetaMax.”

via
Revit: Problem Or Solution? | tsrmag.com – The Schechter Report –

Check out this collection of BIM design resources:
BIM Libraries | Whole Building Design Guide

For instance, there are links to multiple different ‘standards’ and guides.  A few are listed below:

A process for seamless, efficient, reproducible exchange of accurate and reliable that is widely and routinely utilized among all tools and stakeholders.
Online and print magazine covering AEC, MCAD, and GIS
The reading room for computer aided design
This twice-yearly publication provides articles of interest to the community. A live version with web content is being planned to augment the current product.
Presentation by Howard Ashcraft, Hanson Bridget and Dennis Sheldon, Gehry Technologies
These documents define how data is represented, shared, and managed between the myriad of software applications used in the structural steelwork industry.
IFC Model (PDF 1.3 MB)
Texas Facilities Commission—Professional Service Provider Guidelines and Standards