In the eighteenth episode of openBIMvoice, I talk with Grant Schmitz and Richard Brice from the United States.
Grant and Richard work with the BIM for Bridges and Structures pooled fund, an initiative that brought around 25 US state transportation departments together to build open data standards for bridge design, construction and asset management.
I will be honest, this conversation changed how I see the US market. I assumed they were behind on openBIM, and in this sector they are organised in a way most of Europe is not.
The core idea is simple. A public agency owns a bridge for seventy five years, so it has a responsibility to keep its asset data in a format that outlives any software licence.
What we discuss:
How 25 States Agreed. How the pooled fund works, why state transportation departments fund shared standards together, and what it takes to get that many public agencies moving in one direction.
The Design To Construction Delivery Manual. The information delivery manual behind the standards, and the IDS work that turns the requirements into something checkable.
Three Pilot Projects Into Construction. The federally funded pilots in Iowa and Pennsylvania that carried IFC models all the way to the construction site, not just through design.
The Contractor Preferred The IFC. What surprised Richard most on site. The contractor was more receptive to the IFC deliverable than to the proprietary one, simply because far more tools could open it.
IFC 4.3 Model Quality. The problems coming out of authoring tools for IFC 4.3 bridge models, and how Bonsai and IfcOpenShell helped the team understand the schema itself.
Working With buildingSMART. The relationship with buildingSMART USA and buildingSMART International, and how the US bridge work connects to the wider standards community.
What Comes Next. Fabrication detail exchange, as built data, and where the pooled fund is heading after the pilots.
Certification For Tools And People. Why understanding openBIM means understanding processes and ISO 19650, not only IFC.
The strongest point from this conversation is that open standards win when the owner demands them. When the client who keeps the asset for decades asks for open data, the whole chain reorganises around it.
Explore BIM for Bridges and Structures: https://bimforbridgesus.com/
The US bridge dictionary on bSDD: https://search.bsdd.buildingsmart.org/uri/usTransportation/usBridge/1
Find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petruconduraru/
Questions: petru@bimvoice.com
