Adopting IFC 4.3 for infrastructure projects

Thanks to the widespread adoption of BIM, the construction industry has made significant strides towards addressing productivity, sustainability, and cost challenges. However, amidst this positive momentum, data fragmentation stands as a major roadblock to progress. 

The IFC framework has reduced this fragmentation with open standards that support data interoperability. But since the schema didn’t specifically include infrastructure assets, it required some manual effort and customisation on the part of BIM managers, which can undermine the goal of standardisation. 

With the introduction of IFC 4.3, the sprawling group of players involved in transportation projects can finally share a common data language throughout the entire asset lifecycle.

So what are the major changes to IFC 4.3, how will those changes will transform your processes as project stakeholders, and how should you incorporate the new schema in your projects?

Key Changes to IFC for Infrastructure

IFC has been expanding its infrastructure asset capabilities, most notably through the most recent IFC 4.3 standard.  Items of note include:

Disciplines

IFC 4.3 introduces 63 new entities and 294 predefined types to describe road, railway, and ports and waterways projects, as well as their common elements. 

Coordinate Reference System

New IFC entities for object placement allow you to geolocate and position elements in a standardised format.

Triangulated Irregular Network

This element allows you to create accurate topographic analyses, which are represented with triangles.

Alignment

The alignment element supports accurate representations of longitudinal objects. This allows you to define the position of objects in relation to the asset, instead of using Cartesian coordinates. The alignment element also includes considerations for cant and segment.

Geometric Representation

The IfcSectionedSolidHorizontal object maintains the y-vector of a cross-section in the global z-direction, instead of perpendicular to the direction of movement. 

Object Updates

With the introduction of new objects such as ifcKerb and ifcTrackElement, you can describe infrastructure-specific elements with greater detail and accuracy. Also, ifcAnnotation can now describe non-physical elements like lines and points from survey data more precisely.

Spatial Elements

IFC 4.3 expands upon the spatial breakdown structure capabilities to include infrastructure specific assets that allow you to position and organise the asset in a spatial hierarchy.

So where is the value for adopting IFC 4.3 mean for BIM professionals and the business overall?

IFC 4.3 will streamline workflows, reduce errors, and empower downstream users with better data. 

More accurate, detailed models

With better standardisation of infrastructure-specific elements, models can convey design intent with more detail and precision. This reduces data issues, such as rounding errors, that are commonly caused in transit. 

Smoother handoffs and better automation

IFC 4.3 can reduce the need for formatting and redesign work when sharing files between vendors, as an open format standardised schema is used for handover.  Implementing IFC into your models allows automation workflows to flourish by leveraging the structured data schema.

Better as-built data

Owners are under intense pressure to implement data-driven operations and maintenance.  IFC 4.3 enables you to accurately capture and classify as-built data so it’s still usable well after construction has ended.

Planning for implementation

With adoption of IFC 4.3 generally on a project basis, firstly focus on the following priorities:

• What do you want to achieve with IFC 4.3 implementation?

• Which workflows and use cases will you use to test it?

• What outcomes will you look for?

• Who should be involved in the initial pilot?

Keep in mind: Your software vendors should be eager to help you get the most out of their platform’s IFC 4.3 features. 

Action Checklist: Future-proofing your technology

When investing in new technology for your infrastructure projects:

1. Look for platforms that treat interoperability as a priority, not a nice-to-have. 

2. Plan for future scalability and complexity. Transport projects are notoriously complicated, and you’ll need solutions that can support projects of all sizes and complexities.

3. Keep up with industry organisations, as well as your software vendors, for updates on the latest IFC schema. For example, IFC 4.4 is expected to expand to tunnels. 

A Trust technology partner for your  infrastructure projects

IFC 4.3 represents a major step towards leveraging BIM for infrastructure. Trimble understands how critical of a step it is, and we’ve led the way in incorporating the new schema in our solutions.

Our range of infrastructure technology is here to develop, support and enable you to meet and exceed client requirements today and in your infrastructure projects.  No matter your current techstack, our open data approach means that our technology can complement and expand your capabilities.