In its simplest form IFD is a mechanism that allows for creation of multilingual dictionaries or ontologies. IFD Library is one of the core components of the buildingSMART technology. IFD Library is a reference library intended to support improved interoperability in the building and construction industry. IFD Library provides a flexible and robust method of linking existing databases with construction information to an IFC based Building Information Model (BIM). Due to the multilingual capabilities of IFD Library this linking is language independent as well.
The concept for the IFD Library is derived from internationally-accepted open standards that have been developed by ISO (most importantly ISO 12006-3:2007). IFD Library provides flexibility for an IFC-based building information model (BIM) allowing for the link between the model and various databases with project and product specific data. IFD Library opens up for a model enrichment that will allow for advanced analysis, simulation and design checks at a very early phase. It also provides a real opportunity to generate an IFC-BIM for operational and maintenance purposes with storage of product specific data. It can be used to provide a feasible method of linking existing knowledge systems to an IFC-BIM. Multilingual and translation capabilities to the information in an IFC-BIM is another important possibility with IFD
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