Industry Foundation Classes

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The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) data model is a neutral and open specification that is not controlled by a singular vendor or group of vendors. It is an object oriented file format with a data model developed by the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) to facilitate interoperability in the building industry, and is a commonly used format for Building Information Modeling (BIM). The IFC model specification is open and available ref. Because of its focus on ease of interoperability between software platforms the Danish government has made the use of IFC format(s) compulsory for publicly aided building projects ref.

[edit] Software vendors supporting IFC

Bentley Systems: Bentley Architecture supports IFC 2x3. ^[1]
Graphisoft: Archicad supports IFC 1.51, IFC 2.00, IFC 2x, IFC 2x2 from Archicad 7 version onwards.^[2]
Solibri: Solibri Model Checker, Solibri Model Viewer, Solibri IFC Optimizer
Data Design System (DDS)
Archimen Group : Active3d
Autodesk: Revit supports IFC 2x2 ^[3]

[edit] External links

Understanding the different purposes of IFCs and aecXML in achieving Interoperability at the International Alliance for Interoperability, North America, website
Data Design System Building services engineering CAD software - working with IFC building models
A list from DDS of products supporting IFC
IFC for Structural Steel at NIST
AECbytes Feature (March 30, 2004) on the IFC data model.
IfcWiki Beginning of an open-for-all Wiki on the IFCs (initiated by Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe)
Solibri IFC Optimizer is an IFC file optimization tool.