IFC for Infrastructures: New Open Standards for Intelligent Data

This paper presents an analysis and evaluation of the last Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) version, including minor releases and addenda developed by BuildingSMART. This document focuses on the definition of the new elements or entities that are directly related to the infrastructure projects included in the current IFC Release Candidate (IFC4.3 RC2). Up to now, IFC’s exchange format in infrastructure and civil works have undergone much less development than those in buildings, in terms of exchanging BIM data. Currently, the official IFC version available (IFC4 ADD2 TC1) has a set of limitations or loopholes in the infrastructure sector; for this reason, there is a constant effort in updating and extending this format specification to manage particular entities related to civil works, as alignment, profiles, etc. The evolution of this exchange data standard relies on integrating data structures to better understand complex geometries. Therefore, to conclude this study, the characteristics of the intermediate IFC versions between the above-mentioned versions (the two withdrawals IFC4.1 and IFC4.2, as the archived IFC4.3 RC1) will be cited and compared.