The aim of the BIM_SPEED project is to:

• reduce the time of deep renovation projects
• develop affordable tools and integrate them into the BIMSpeed platform
• create standardized procedures for implementing renovation solutions

The 'GIS data provider service' implemented as part of BIM-SPEED project is developed with the need for the objectives set by the BIM-SPEED Project. It helps in:

• Accessing an easy-to-use tool within BIM-SPEED platform to collect as-built exterior data => A tool integrated to BIM-SPEED platform
• Developing a workflow for site analysis and planning => Standardized approach for implementing a renovation solution
• Controlling cost and quality by selecting the optimum data collection methods in the first stages of renovation => Reduce cost of the personnel for collecting the data 
• Controlling time of the as-built exterior data collection of the building by using the developed tool => Reduce time by using a plug-and-play solution instead of the conventional approach

The data provided with the GIS data provider service provide information and insights regarding:

• Understanding the limitations and feasibilities of the project site to plan in advance the next stages of the project
• Understanding the requirements for the next stages of the building renovation

One of the main objectives of the BIM-SPEED project is to reduce the time of deep renovation projects by 30%. This demonstration shows that the 'GIS data provider service' helps reducing the time required for collecting surrounding built and natural data. The figure below shows the common practice and steps to collect the data, and consequently the time required for each step, and the BIM-SPEED solution and the time required for collection of surrounding data.

Fig 1: Geospatial data collection; common practice vs BIM-Speed approach

The benefits of BIM-SPEED approach:

• The time for this procedure has been reduced by using the 'GIS data provider service', which user can extract relevant datasets only by selecting the demonstration site and downloading the relevant datasets in the BIM-SPEED platform.
• The added value of using BIM for renovation is the retrieving of exact location of the building directly from the IFC file stored in the BIM_SPEED platform.
• Within the development procedure of the tool, a set of standardized protocols for obtaining GIS environmental data namely Web Feature Service (WFS) has been used 

Focusing on the tool in detail, it helps in:

• Providing a comprehensive view of the project site before starting the renovation process, to understand what exterior factors should be considered in the renovation activities
• Information about construction regulation if the building is located in a historical area
• Information about the traffic network in the surrounding to account for acoustic analysis if required
• Information about energy network and the potential of renewable sources of energy in the district level
• Information about surrounding obstacles such as buildings and their height, trees and their height and species to study the shading effect and selecting methods for collecting 3D laser scanning data
• Information about location of airports to understand about the flight regulations for drone flight in 3D and thermal scanning data collection
• Information about green and blue areas in the surrounding to study the acoustic situation of the area as well as evaporating effect
• Information about the population density, age and education to study the consumption behavior in the surrounding of the building

• One limitation of the tool is that datasets and their attributes may not be available for all locations of interest, as availability of datasets is dependent to public and private organizations who provides and publish them
• Another limitation is that the service at the moment only retrieves the datasets and do not suggest an easy-to-use way for a non-expert user to visualize the retrieved data. A future add-on to this service can be a visualization platform (e.g. online platform) to directly visualize the retrieved datasets.

The ontology behind the service which lists the concepts required for each use case is presented in this article:

https://linkedbuildingdata.net/ldac2020/files/papers/05paper.pdf

IFC: International Foundation Class

GIS: Geographic Information System

WFS: Web Feature Service

GPS: Global Positioning System