As BIM technology continues to gain traction across various industries, its popularity has surged. However, full implementation remains a challenge, with several issues still unresolved. One of the most significant problems encountered during BIM adoption is the loss of information or the creation of “information silos” at different stages of a project.
The author identifies two main causes for this issue. First, the standards governing BIM application are still not fully developed. Second, the communication of information between different BIM software platforms is often inefficient. BIM technology relies heavily on specialized software, predominantly developed by the three major companies: Autodesk, Bentley, and Dassault. Each company offers its own suite of BIM tools, but due to distinct development practices, these platforms utilize proprietary file formats.
This leads to data sharing and exchange being limited primarily within software ecosystems developed by the same company, creating isolated “BIM ecosystems.” As a result, designers typically select a BIM platform that best suits their professional needs. However, these differing information standards across platforms cause issues such as information loss and the formation of “information silos.” In some cases, software from different ecosystems cannot exchange data at all.
To address these challenges and foster wider BIM adoption, it is essential to integrate software across various BIM platforms to ensure interoperability. Each BIM application should support interfaces that facilitate data exchange. While achieving full integration across all software remains difficult, the most viable current solution is to use the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard as a common format for data conversion and sharing.
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