I gave this talk at the Smart Geo Expo Conference that was co-organized by LH Corp and OGC. In this talk I've tried to share the real experiences of BIM & GIS integration in real projects.

1. Integration of BIM and GIS:
From Ideal to Reality
Sanghee Shin(shshin@gaia3d.com)
Gaia3D, Inc
22nd July 2021
<Digital Twin after COVID-19>

2. 2
Indoor Space and COVID-19 Transmission

3. BIM vs GIS
3
vs
<BIM> <GIS>

4. BIM vs GIS
4
Exist before final entity
Maximum LOD in geometric
representation
Relationships between geometries are
present
Represent an existing entity
Multiple LOD
Brep (Sweeping)
Topologic Representation
Semantic information is tightly
coupled with the model
BIM GIS
CSG, Sweeping, Brep (+ curve, spline,
surfaces, patch)
Semantic information is tightly coupled
with the model
vs
Usually manage and visualize
information about outdoor space
Mainly focus on buildings, structures,
elements in a limited area

5. GeoBIM – BIM & GIS Integration
5
BIM GeoSpatial
GeoBIM
• Microscopic
• Design
• Site selection
• Asset management
• Construction management
• Energy management
• Security planning
• Parametric model
• Macroscopic
• Urban Design
• Smart City
• Logistics optimization
• Disaster management
• Emergency planning
• Flood management
• Surface model
Terrain, imagery, surrounding features…
Detailed 3D city models, map update, indoor info…

6. BIM & GIS Integration
6
Hierarchical Information Relationships, BIM & GIS
IAI-IFC
Usage
Space
Natural Asset
Linear Structure
Structure
Building
Facility / Built
Theatre / World
Sub-Systems
System
Level
Site
Real
Property Asset
Country
State/Province
County
Installation /
Region
Node
Segment
Room
Space
System
Level
Sub-Systems
Room
Water / Sea
Land / Parcel
Underground
Air / Space
Geospatial Information
(GIS)
Overlay
Overlay
Building information
(Building Information Modeling)
Components
Components
City

7. IDBE(Integrated Digital Built Environment)
7
“… to increase interoperability between the geospatial and
built environment domains, specifically through
coordination of standards development… “

8. 8
<Source: https://www.ogc.org/pressroom/pressreleases/3187>
IDBE(Integrated Digital Built Environment)

9. EuroSDR’s GeoBIM Research
9
<Source : http://www.eurosdr.net/research/current>
<Source : https://3d.bk.tudelft.nl/projects/eurosdr-geobim/>
The spatial data research interests of European countries
are represented through the membership in EuroSDR of
national organisations from their production and research
sectors.

10. Industry Partnerships
10

11. Industry Partnerships – ESRI and Autodesk
11
<IFC Quick Import of BIM model in ArcGIS> <Direct read of BIM data(Revit) with ArcGIS Pro> <Analysis of BIM model and display as webscene>
<Audodesk Connector for ArcGIS,
Use of geodata from ArcGIS online in Infraworks>
<GIS platform ESRI(left) and BIM360 platform Autodesk(right)
<Source : Andreas Carstens, 2019, BIM & GIS – New Dimensions of Improved Collaboration for Infrastructure and Environment >

12. Open Source Approaches
12
<mago3D>
<City Lite>
<Source : http://mago3d.com>
<Source : https://parametricos-cassini-hackathon.vercel.app/>

13. Benefits of GeoBIM
13
• Time efficiency
• Cost efficiency
• Material efficiency
• Labor productivity
• Reuse of detailed 3D city model
• Reduce the update cycle of 3D maps
• Increased efficiency of facility management
• City level life cycle management
• Integrated reasoning on terrain, buildings,
and city infrastructures
• Can be used as a base data of Digital Twin
• Data source as a 3D visualization and
AR/VR/XR
<Source : https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/geobim-adoption-benefits-challenges-return-on-investments/>
<Source: GeoBIM: Bridging the gap between Geo and BIM, https://3d.bk.tudelft.nl/projects/geobim/>

14. Ideal vs Reality
14
<Source : https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/k1zf2o/the_client_always_knows_best/>

15. BIM Itself
15
Current BIM
1. Hard to access & view the BIM data without
special software
2. Closed and proprietary technology
3. Loosely coupled with geospatial context

16. What is the MAIN PURPOSE?
16
• What is the main purpose of BIM & GIS integration? Why do we try to integrate BIM & GIS?
• Many think of BIM as a fancy 3D model for visualization.
• Many clients want to see *PRETTY* picture.
• 3D analysis, 3D simulations on top of GeoBIM platform are not widely available.
• GeoBIM is not a technology integration, but an innovation how to work across BIM & GIS.

17. Data, data, and DARK data.
17
<Source : https://www.srinsofttech.com/bim-level-of-development-lod-300-400-500.html>
• BIM file in your hard is not a final data set.
• There will be many versions of BIM dataset.
• BIM data changes over and over. Revisions,
revisions, and revisions…
• Sometimes even designers or clients do not
know which one is the most recent one.
• Most importantly BIM data is not clean as
you expect!(Dark data)
• There will be many missing information for
integration with GIS, e.g., CRS.

18. Data Conversion
18
BIM
LOD1
LOD2
LOD3
LOD4
BIM -> CityGML
ADE
(Application Domain
Extension)

19. Music player without music!
19
• How many BIM data have you seen in your life?
• How many BIM data have you seen on top of geospatial context?
• BIM data owners are quite reluctant to share their data with others.
• BIM data designers are quite reluctant to share their data with others.
• 3D is expensive and BIM is more expensive!

20. More than Standards!
20
• Standards are not widely accepted across industries.
“Why should we export our Revit file to IFC?”
“We convert our 3D data to CityGML only because government order to do that.”
• Sometimes data converting lose some part of original information.
• Clients prefer to provide original native format.
• Converting format gives another hassle to the clients or my company.
GIS
CityGML
GeospatialInformation
GISStandards
IFC
BIM
OutdoorModel
IndoorModel
BIMStandards
Construction
DrawingsInfo.
In/Outdoor
GIModel
(GeospatialInformationModel)

21. Huge gaps
21
BIM GIS
It’s not about the technology integration,
rather it’s about cross-domain business process innovation.
• Still heavily rely on BIM
conversion design
• Different meaning of the
same term
• Hard to embrace semantic
information of BIM
• Believe that BIM is fancy 3D
Model
• Think of BIM as a GIS layer
• Focus on geometry data
loosing rich semantic
information

22. GeoBIM Visualization is still challenging.
22
• BIM data is usually large and complex.
• BIM software requires high performance computers with external video cards.
• Visualizing large and complex BIM data on top of GeoBIM platform is still
challenging.

23. Wrapping-up
23
• Indoor data can be useful for tracing and simulating disease spreading.
• Standards are not widely accepted across industries.
• Need to understand the life-cycle of BIM and GIS data. BIM is dynamic.
• Data conversion is big headache.
• Need to understand the main purpose of BIM and GIS integration. (Fit-for-purpose approach)
• BIM and GIS integration is more complex than just reading geometry and attributes data from
3D model and visualizing them in GIS.
• We need to redefine the work process around BIM and GIS to integrate both domains.
• Visualizing large and complex objects is still challenging.
• 3D analysis, 3D simulations on top of GeoBIM platform are not widely available.

24. Thank you.
33
Sanghee Shin
shshin@gaia3d.com