Minimizing information loss in BIM-GIS integration
The integration of building information modeling (BIM) and the geographic information system (GIS) combines the advantages of BIM and the GIS. On the one hand, BIM digitally represents the physical and functional characteristics of buildings, providing a platform for information sharing and communication among stakeholders throughout all stages of an engineering project and enabling the management of project schedule, cost, safety and contracts. However, BIM models mainly focus on the representation of building components; thus, they lack the representation of the surrounding environment and have limitations in locating objects in large-scale sites. On the other hand, the GIS is a computer system for collecting, storing, managing, analyzing, and visualizing spatial information. The GIS can clearly represent the spatial relationships between buildings but lacks semantic information about buildings. Currently, there are mainly three ways to integrate BIM and the GIS: BIM to the GIS, the GIS to BIM, and BIM and the GIS to a third system. In the conversion of BIM data to GIS models such as CityGML3.0, there is a need for abstraction and schematization which leads to information loss. The practical aspects of such integration related to scalability and automation also provides additional challenges in such conversion.
