BIM-based semantic enrichment and knowledge graph generation via geometric relation checking

Building Information Models support information exchange and collaboration between designers, engineers and stakeholders of the built environment. Due to the large scale and multi-domain requirements of building projects, building information is often fragmented to multiple files, prone to modeling errors and poor level of detail. As a result, BIM data cannot be reused and remain siloed across the building lifecycle. This paper introduces the Geometric Relation Checking tool, a novel tool that automatically detects geometric relations between IFC objects. These relationships can be used to infer missing semantic relationships among these objects, increasing the inter-connectivity among semantic graphs of different domains and at the same time breaking their siloed structures. The tool is tested on MEP and architecture domain data, but its use can be generalized to any other data domain that contains elements with geometric representations. • Semantic connection inference among BIM elements, using geometric relation checking. • Geometric Relation Checking (GRC) tool description. • Cross-domain semantic integration of large fragmented BIM data sets. • Detection of design errors among BIM elements. • HVAC building topology generation supporting BIM2BEM workflows.