Virtual reality enabled building-data management through the combination of a fully integrated IFC-BIM model and an IoT-based building management system

Professionals involved in building construction and monitoring increasingly implement new practices made available by Building Information Modelling (BIM), Virtual Reality (VR) and the Internet of Things (IoT). In spite of numerous efforts, most methods integrating BIM and IoT rely on Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) related to Closed Source Software (CSS), which practically exclude the basic BIM Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. Within the fewer methods actively using the IFC data model to VR-enhanced interfaces, we can observe the loss of crucial IFC information. This article describes a workflow of a BIM-IFC to VR-enabled data management definition, articulating a Building Management Systems' (BMS) database or, as an alternative, an IoT system. This workflow is presented through four phases (model making, device inventory, protocol setting, and real-time VR interaction), which correspond to the actual sections of the information flow that we have successfully tested.