Investigating the state of play of geoBIM across Europe

In both the Geographic Information (Geo) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) domains, it is widely acknowledged that the integration of data from both domains is beneficial and a crucial step in facing the multi-disciplinary challenges of our built environment. The result of this integration – which can broadly be termed GeoBIM –could answer questions such as identifying an
appropriate Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning system for a building based on room usage, outside air temperature, solar exposure and traffic pollution or validating whether a proposed built asset meets relevant planning constraints.
Developing a coherent approach to GeoBIM integration requires consensus between multiple stakeholders from both the Geo and the BIM side and at an international level. This multi-country and multi-stakeholder approach is the topic of a 2-year EuroSDR project on GeoBIM integration that started in November 2017. The general aim of the project is to detail both the needs and the issues of GeoBIM integration, studied from use cases as well as from existing experiences in the participating countries and to develop initial solutions accordingly. This paper reports initial results – it identifies strong potential for GeoBIM but also rather fragmented activity, with no national level focus. It also notes that research (both in industry and academia) primarily focuses on standards, interoperability and data integration or exchange. Based on these findings – and with a focus on existing work and topics of interest to NMCAs – the next phase of the work will develop more detailed case studies for Asset Management and Urban Planning.