An Introduction to Building Information Modeling

A building information model is a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information for decisions during its life-cycle from inception onward. A basic premise of the model is collaboration by different stakeholders at different phases of the life cycle of a facility to insert, extract, update or modify information in the modeling process to support and reflect the roles of that stakeholder. The model is a shared digital representation founded on open standards for interoperability. The model may be a database made up of a set of interrelated files and not just one entity.

The concept of Building Information Modeling is to build a building virtually, prior to building it physically, in order to work out problems, and simulate and analyze potential impacts. The heart of Building Information Modeling is an authoritative building information model.