Open product modelling and interoperability in the AEC sector

The integration of Information Technologies in the AEC sector can contribute towards improving the industrialized working process. It can make the industrialized working process more open and transparent to enable the participation of multiple actors, and increase the efficiency of the design and construction. Although BIM technologies aim at fulfilling both objectives, there are some challenges associated with interoperability that still should be overcome. In particular, there are some important limitations of the IFC standard with regard to its semantic expressiveness which make the exchange of data across applications, difficult. This document offers an overview of the alternatives to interlink data generated around different BIM domains using ontologies and semantic web technologies following the Linked Open Data initiative. Specifically, the potential of applying ontologies for product modelling is discussed.