AN OVERVIEW OF THE U.S. NATIONAL BUILDING INFORMATION MODEL STANDARD (NBIMS)

Recent efforts of National Institute of Building Science (NIBS) members have moved the goal of interoperable, life-cycle exchange of building information closer to fruition in the United States. This has been accomplished through the specification of individual information exchange packages, based on the requirements of well defined business processes, using the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) model. There are many opportunities for direct participation in the development of the National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS). Background Current professional interest in Building Information Models (BIM) within the United States follows a long history of international efforts related to gathering actionable information about buildings and building components using computers. Initial efforts resulted in the Digital Representation for Communication of Project Definition Data [NBS 1980]. This effort, commonly called the Initial Graphic Exchange Specification (IGES), remains in use, but members of the capital facilities life-cycle required details not provided by IGES. As a result the United States National CAD Standard was created.