Industry Foundation Classes

The Industry Foundation Classes ( IFC) are an open standard in the construction industry for the digital description of model buildings (Building Information Modeling).

Defines the IFC of buildingSMART International ( BSI ), formerly known as the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI ). Join the IFC under ISO 16739th

Content

Shown are the logical building structures (eg window - opening - wall - floor - building ), associated properties ( attributes) and optional geometry. It provides for, inter alia, complex 3D planning data with the components and descriptive attributes transferred between building software systems.

Use

IFC is supported by numerous software for the exchange of building data. Areas of application are, for example, 2D/3D CAD, structural analysis and energy calculations, quantities and cost determination, and facility management. The exchange takes place by IFC files with the extension * ifc. . In addition, IFC files in the default XML (*. IfcXML ) and zipped IFC files (*. IfcZIP ) are also common.

  • BuildingSMART maintains a database of all programs that support according to its own statements, IFC: IFC software database.
  • BuildingSMART also provides all software vendors who want to undergo its IFC interface of an independent quality testing, a certification program.

Versions

  • IFC IFC 1.0 to 2.0: Early prototypes, years 2000-2002
  • IFC 2x to IFC 2x2: For early adopters, years 2002-2008
  • IFC 2x3: in practical application, years 2008-2016
  • IFC 4: from 2014
Technical standard Autodesk Revit AutoCAD
411960
de