Preliminary BIM‐based solution for bridge data management in the Italian context

Abstract Following several collapses, bridge management has become crucial in recent decades. In Italy, the publication of the Guidelines for Bridge Management has prompted administrations and researchers to implement new solutions: in fact, Bridge Management System (BMS) platforms, integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM), have been developed through commercial solutions or research projects. However, these platforms can present challenges for less experienced users: commercial platforms are often predefined and hard to customize, while research‐based solutions tend to be complex and difficult to implement in practice. Consequently, the authors stress the need for easy‐to‐use tools for beginners, providing essential starting tools. This article proposes a simple methodology for integrating the Guidelines within Bridge Information Modeling (BrIM), offering operational tools to understand and apply BIM processes in infrastructure management. It represents a first step in a larger project to develop an open platform for road and rail network management. A BrIM template with required components, digital Guidelines sheet, and IFC export settings is provided, tested through a case study to verify the procedure's correctness and visualization with IFC viewers.