Benefits of Using the BIMStorm™ Process and Onuma to Develop Open Standards

Open standards for building and geospatial information are rapidly changing. So much is being figured out at the same time its hard to know which of the many parallel tracks will eventually meet in the distance. For example:

Performance Specifications: Proprietary versus generic names of things are very tricky ~ the CSI Construction Specification Institute Data Dictionary is currently being developed;

Data Exchange Policies: Recording brand names, model numbers, and manufacturer’s warranties as performance specifications, designs and data change hands from Architect, to Contractor, to Owner ~ COBIE Construction Operations Building Exchange is currently being developed;

Building Codes: Construction type and use group are able to align with building data by facility type and location ~ ICC International Code Council SMARTCodes are currently being developed;

Space Definition Rules: BOMA calcs and owner program requirements ~ OSCRE Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate are currently being developed;

Geospatial Coordination: OGC Open Geospatial Consortium has already made a huge impact, open standards continue to be developed with an impressive focus on interoperability amongst the standards themselves;

Sustainability: Owners, Architects, and Contractors understand how to go for LEEDS points now ~ USGBC US Green Building Council has already made a huge impact, standards and requirements continue to be developed;

Tools for Public Inquiry: How can environmental organizations assess their area using USGBC/LEED data, GIS Watershed, BOMA Calcs, SMARTCodes and all the above while OmniClass, MasterFormat, UniFormat and all the words we use are constantly evolving?

BIMstorm and Onuma provide an opportunity for non-technical people to like and understand the potential of BIM and open standards in simple ways. Room Criteria Sheets and Google Earth are OK, regular people can play out a variety of scenarios without liabilities, deadlines, or costs. It can’t be only technical people who solve these problems.

The main benefit of using the BIMstorm process and Onuma is being able to figure out how open standards SHOULD work together with commercial technology. Open standards need to be vendor neutral, but it takes vendors to help develop these standards along the way. There is still a tremendous amount of work ahead and true interoperability will never be “done”. Until then, using the BIMstorm process and Onuma provides a unique opportunity to work together towards the same shared end goals. Can’t get there without using real products and technology.

Deborah L. MacPherson AIA, CSI CCS
Specifications and Research, WDG Architecture PLLC
Projects Director, Accuracy&Aesthetics
NBIMS National Building Information Modeling Standard, Consensus and Model Implementation Guide Task Teams
Member of the buildingSMART alliance