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Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers
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Transformation from IFC data model to GML data
model: Methodology and tool development
I‐Chen Wu a & Shang‐Hsien Hsieh b a
Department of Civil Engineering , National Taiwan University , Taipei, Taiwan 106, R.O.C.
b
Department of Civil Engineering , National Taiwan University , Taipei, Taiwan 106, R.O.C. E-mail:
Published online: 04 Mar 2011.
To cite this article: I‐Chen Wu & Shang‐Hsien Hsieh (2007) Transformation from IFC data model to GML data
model: Methodology and tool development, Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, 30:6, 1085-1090, DOI:
10.1080/02533839.2007.9671335
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02533839.2007.9671335
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Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 1085-1090 (2007) 1085
Short Paper
TRANSFORMATION FROM IFC DATA MODEL TO GML DATA
MODEL: METHODOLOGY AND TOOL DEVELOPMENT
I-Chen Wu and Shang-Hsien Hsieh*
ABSTRACT
To facilitate the incorporation of 3D CAD objects into the 3D-GIS environment, this paper proposes a feasible approach to transform the 3D geometric information of CAD objects expressed by the IFC model into geometric objects for the GML model. The discussions include not only the proposed model transformation methodology but also the development of a software tool that implements the proposed methodology. In addition, a simple model transformation example is provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology and the functionalities of the developed tool.
Key Words: IFC, GML, CAD, 3D-GIS, interoperability.
*Corresponding author. (Email: [email protected]) The authors are with the Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106, R.O.C.
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, for creating a more navigable, interactive, and visually realistic information man-agement environment for building construction, there has been an increasing interest in addressing the is-sues related to interoperability and integration between 3D CAD data and 3D GIS data. Because the CAD systems and the GIS systems (Zlatanova et al., 2002) are primarily designed for different purposes, with their own specialized functionalities, and have been employed by different user groups for a long time, it is not feasible to expect development of any system soon that can support both CAD and GIS capabilities and provide a seamless CAD/GIS integration. Therefore, a more feasible approach at this point is to achieve CAD/GIS interoperability at the data level. However, because the 3D building objects created by the CAD systems and the geo-data objects managed in the GIS systems are quite different in their repre-sentation approaches and data storage formats, their data integration still presents a challenging task.
Two approaches may be employed for the CAD/ GIS data integration. The first one is to communicate
geo-data from the GIS systems to the CAD systems. For example, the on-going development of the Indus-try Foundation Classes (IFC) for GIS, called IFG1
, at-tempts to provide a solution for the passage of infor-mation about terrains, land parcels, local planning, road access, etc., from various GIS standards to the CAD systems. The second approach is to transform 3D CAD data from the CAD systems into the GIS systems. For example, Benner et al. (2004) have transformed CAD data into a GIS-based model called the QUASY (Quartierdaten-Managementsystem) model, which is structurally very similar to the GML (Geography Markup Language) model (OGC, 2004) and is designed as a new 3D semantic building model dedicated to urban development. Based on the QUASY model, new ap-plications for 3D city models can be realized in the area of town planning and urban management.
In this paper, a methodology for model trans-formation from the IFC data model to the GML data model is presented and it belongs to the second approach. The IFC data model, instead of a tradi-tional CAD data model, such as DWG, DXF and DGN formats, is employed here because it has become an international industry standard for CAD data exchange and sharing. The IFC model defines a set of interna-tionally standardized objects for building construc-tion based on the STEP (ISO, 1992) technology. It represents not only tangible building components such as, walls, doors, beams, ceilings and furniture, but
1 More information can be found at http://www.iai.no/ifg/index.html
