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eConstruct: web supported communication and cooperation in building and construction

symposium research school structural engineering

Zeist

Thursday 24 october 2002

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eConstruct

eCommerce & eBusiness in the European Building and Construction Industry:Preparing for the Next Generation Internet (NGI)

The European DG13 5th Framework IST Programme

Key Action II – New Methods of Work and Electronic Commerce –

Project No. IST-1999-10303

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Contents

• Why eConstruct• What is needed to get it working?• Our tangible results

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Why eConstruct?

Contractor

Manufacturer

Portal

Manufacturer

Contractor

Portal

€

PortalContractor

Manufacturer

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Therefore eConstruct

€

ContractorManufacturerPortal

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What is needed?

• A communication grammar (bcxml)• A set of words (taxonomy)• A communication medium (software

framework)

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Grammar (bcXML)

• Generic bcXML Meta-Schema– Called XTD – eXtensible Taxonomy Definition– Used as a dataformat for our taxonomy

• bcXML data format– Generated from the taxonomy– <Object name=“door”/> => <Door>– Used for catalogues and queries

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bcXML Glimpse

<InnerDoor name="MyDoor"externalReferences="http://www.bcXML.org/MyDoor.ppt"><EAN>

<SingleValue>1234-abc-4321</SingleValue></EAN><height unit="m">

<SingleValue>1.9</SingleValue></height><thickness unit="m" prefix="c">

<Range><min>6</min><max>8</max>

</Range></thickness><rotation>

<SingleValue>left</SingleValue></rotation><Hinge name="h1">

<weight unit="kg"><SingleValue>0.1</SingleValue>

</weight></Hinge><Hinge name="h2">

<weight unit="kg"><SingleValue>0.1</SingleValue>

</weight></Hinge>

</InnerDoor>

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Set of words/concepts (Taxonomy)

bcTaxonomy

DecompositionDecomposition

bcDictionary bcDictionary

DescriptionsDescriptions

bcVocabulary bcVocabulary

SpecialisationSpecialisation

Abstraction(objects &

(assigned) properties)

Abstraction(objects &

(assigned) properties)TermsTerms

[eConstruct: “bcBuildingDefinitions”]

DocumentReferencesDocument

ReferencesExternal

DocumentsExternal

Documents

-VRML-SVG-HTML-DWG-DOC-XSL- …

InterrelationInterrelation

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Communication medium (software framework)

SupplierCatalogue

Server

Catalogues Taxonomies

TaxonomyServer

Taxonomies

TaxonomyServer

Taxonomies

TaxonomyServer

SupplierCatalogue

Server

SupplierCatalogue

Server

CataloguesCatalogues

SW Clients

Resource DBServer

bcXML Browser

Web ServicesGateway

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Results

bcXML model1

Project DB based on the EXPRESS Data Manager™9

XML Server based on the EXPRESS Data Manager™ 8

IfcBrowser 7

Virtual Reality Information Front-end 6

Computer Aided Selling application including the Catalogue Definer5

LexiCon Explorer with bcXML taxonomy export 4

bcXML software architecture implementation (including taxonomyserver + query generator and catalogue server)

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bcTaxonomy2

Description of the Result

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TNO IfcBrowser

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bcXML example usage

SupplierCatalogue

Server

Catalogues Taxonomies

TaxonomyServer

ProjectDB server

Resource DBServer

bcXML Browser

Web ServicesGateway

IFC browser

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Want More Info ?

• http://www.eConstruct.org• http://www.bcxml.net (demo software)

• Reinout van Rees• R.vanRees@citg.tudelft.nl