Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)

Esri actively supports and participates in buildingSMART International as a Multinational member, helping to promote openBIM standards with the goal of improving infrastructure and built-world workflows. This partnership shows Esri's commitment to open data sharing standards, innovation, and GIS-BIM synergy, helping professionals and industries worldwide. Esri’s technical and business development staff participate frequently in several buildingSMART domains and working groups, including: infrastructure, airport, rail, GIS-BIM, sustainability, and digital twins.

The ability of Esri products to directly import and interact with Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) data enables users to provide geospatial analysis and visualization in their building and infrastructure projects. This integration of GIS and openBIM provides significant advantages in planning, design, construction, and capital project management processes. Using IFC, an open and standardized BIM format, users of Esri's ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS GeoBIM, and ArcGIS CityEngine, interact smoothly with their geospatial and urban planning workflows.

Users can import IFC files into ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS GeoBIM to use 3D data jointly, improving architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) cooperation. This connection makes geospatial analysis and visualizations easy to incorporate with IFC building and infrastructure data. The ArcGIS CityEngine IFC import function lets urban planners and designers augment realistic 3D city models using BIM data, simplifying urban design and planning. IFC as an import format allows BIM to enrich GIS datasets, empowering users to maximize data potential for better decision-making and urban development.

Georeferencing digital models based on real-world location is key for GIS and BIM integration. Esri has improved this process to take advantage of enhancements to the latest IFC 4x format when georeferenced data is provided, as well as if the IFC lacks any geolocation information:

• If the file contains the values for ifcMapConversion and ifcProjectedCRS, ArcGIS Pro will read the information and place the digital model in the “correct” geolocation.
• If the value for ifcMapConversion is correct, but ifcProjectedCRS is missing, ArcGIS Pro defines the projection to place the digital model in the “correct” geolocation.
• When the digital file lacks any geolocation information, ArcGIS Pro lets the user enter a local coordinate system, an address allowance, and an easy set of tools for exact translation and rotation as needed.

This method accurately integrates IFC files into scenes for visualization in context for rich spatial analysis, urban planning, and design workflows. Additional details on georeferencing IFC models are available here.

As an open standard, IFC is crucial to GIS-based infrastructure and building projects globally. It enables seamless data sharing between digital models created using GIS and BIM. A common language for geospatial specialists, architects, engineers, and construction experts, IFC also enables ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS CityEngine to incorporate and extract 3D data from buildings and infrastructure. This integration is essential for geographical analysis, urban planning, and infrastructure management. Additionally, IFC enables data interchange, cooperation, and quicker decision-making across project boundaries and global locations, all while remaining agnostic to GIS and design software. Workflows leveraging this GIS-BIM integration help stakeholders understand and manage the built environment regardless of project size, complexity, or location, making it essential to GIS-based project success worldwide.

Promoting and applying IFC in GIS-based projects gives AEC professionals various commercial opportunities. Integrating IFC into their GIS operations gives them full geospatial solutions for complex project management and analysis. Their geospatial expertise makes them reliable advisers for clients seeking to increase project efficiency and decision-making. IFC may also help AEC professionals expand their firms by showing their commitment to cutting-edge technology and innovation. It can also lead to tailored GIS tools and applications for AEC needs, boosting revenue and industry strength. IFC in GIS-based projects broadens commercial possibilities and validates AEC's geospatial and construction technology role.

The following links may assist with GIS-BIM integrations using IFC:

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/cityengine/latest/help/help-import-ifc.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVa6drq-Oc
https://support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/how-to-convert-ifc-data-with-the-data-interoperability-000017416