Information Delivery Specification
Information Delivery Specification has been developed as a standardised way to define requirements that focus on checking IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) files. The standard allows for the user to define advanced requirements, restrict values and specify relationships between objects. IDS utilizes the XML format (shown in the snippet below),as the method of validating building models. The XML structure allows for the data to be visualised in numerous ways for both human and computer readability.
XML IDS Example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ids:ids
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://standards.buildingsmart.org/IDS http://standards.buildingsmart.org/IDS/ids.xsd"
xmlns:ids="http://standards.buildingsmart.org/IDS">
<ids:info>
<ids:title>Ensure model meets expectations for running Carbon Assessment</ids:title>
<ids:copyright>xbim Ltd</ids:copyright>
<ids:date>2022-11-30</ids:date>
</ids:info>
<ids:specifications>
<ids:specification ifcVersion="IFC2X3 IFC4" name="Check all Doors state Reference, Location and Material" minOccurs="1">
<ids:applicability>
<ids:entity>
<ids:name>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:enumeration value="IFCDOOR" />
</xs:restriction>
</ids:name>
<ids:predefinedType>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:enumeration value="DOOR" />
</xs:restriction>
</ids:predefinedType>
</ids:entity>
</ids:applicability>
<ids:requirements>
<ids:property minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" measure="IfcBoolean">
<ids:propertySet>
<ids:simpleValue>Pset_DoorCommon</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:propertySet>
<ids:name>
<ids:simpleValue>IsExternal</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:name>
</ids:property>
<ids:property minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="unbounded" measure="IfcIdentifier">
<ids:propertySet>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value="Pset.*Door.*" />
</xs:restriction>
</ids:propertySet>
<ids:name>
<ids:simpleValue>Reference</ids:simpleValue>
</ids:name>
<ids:value>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value="\w*" />
</xs:restriction>
</ids:value>
</ids:property>
<ids:material minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="0">
<ids:value>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value=".*unknown.*" />
</xs:restriction>
</ids:value>
</ids:material>
<ids:material minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="unbounded">
<ids:value>
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value=".*" />
</xs:restriction>
</ids:value>
</ids:material>
</ids:requirements>
</ids:specification>
</ids:specifications>
</ids:ids>
Watch a short video on IDS
Through using this method of storing information requirements, challenges in accessing data across different teams throughout the construction project lifecycle are reduced. The computer-readability of IDS facilitates automations to efficiently validate models using services such as our Flex Flow platform you can run checks hassle free.
