Granularity

[bwiab]

Can someone explain to me why granularity is critical to BIM? I am doing a presentation with a lawyer and she contends that one of the problems with BIM is granularity. I understand that it has to do with the detail of an object and that perhaps your dimensions could get screwed up switching between different bim platforms. That, however, seems to me to be an issue of interoperability. I have not been able to produce a Revit file that has been compromised because of granularity. Is this still an issue or has it been figured out?

thanks for any input.

[RobertB]

I certainly have not heard of it as being "critical" to BIM. Perhaps the lawyer is concerned that some of the models used in the BIM are not fully accurate due to decisions to optimize performance? But I fail to see how a simplified model that accurately depicts both the envelope and the connections would be a potential source of litigation.

[TerribleTim]

I'd ask for a definition of "granularity" first. Often times I find that comments like that stem from something they heard "through the grapevine" so they want to seem smart when talking to you.

You are right, "granularity" and "interoperability" are two different things.

[bwiab]

Thanks for your input guys. I am meeting with her on Monday and will ask her in what context she is identifying the issue.

Seperately - When I search under new posts in all forums, this thread does not show up. any idea what that is about?

So I think I figured it out. The post shows up under todays posts, but when I search new posts, it does not come up because I have already seen it.

[cjehly]

Perhaps he means that not all applications are set up to incorporate ALL of the necessary information to properly display the object as it was intended.

Take a piece of DUCT.

There are perhaps 20 or 30 fields (sometimes more) of information that fully describe all of its physical aspects. If you had to cull down this information to 10 fields for interoperability between applications, you are losing some VALUABLE information from the originating software that would prevent that particular piece from being displayed 100% correctly.

The same can be said for WALL.

In its simplest form, a wall has a width, a height, and a length. You would need more "granularity" to see the various LAYERS that make up the overall width, and you need even more "granularity" to see the STUDS. Upper and lower attachments, fire-ratings, etc...

When I read the OP, this is what came to mind... of course, we're talking about a lawyer, so I'm fairly sure I'm wrong. ;)