Use of digital information in architecture, engineering, construction and operation: standardization efforts

Abstract

Today, BIM (Building Information Modelling) is the basic technology used to create models and documentation in architecture, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) sector. Although the whole sector is experiencing an intense digital transformation based on information technologies, few people pay more attention to the very concept of information. The paper analyzes the basic aspects of the concept of information and demonstrates how they are gaining increasing support in BIM technologies through the development of standards. An overview of all current BIM standards is given, as well as a selection from those in the process, showing how the role of information is defined in them. The paper summarizes aspects of standards and gives a proposal on how they should be used in everyday AECO practice in order to achieve a new way of expressing and using information.