Nemetschek Vectorworks and Datacubist Oy Partner to Strengthen IFC Quality Exchange

This week Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. and Cubist Oy, a company that makes simblebim®, a BIM software platform that enhances IFC exchange between AECO professionals, announced a new partnership. This new partnership focuses on enabling Vectorworks Architect users to export their IFC-STP files and import them into the simplebim® application so they can trim unnecessary data, validate, edit, and add non-geometric data directly within the IFC file.

“Our commitment to design flexibility and intent drives our continuous search for technology partners that support Open BIM workflows for improved communication and project coordination,” said Jeremy Powell, product marketing director at Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc. “It’s paramount that we provide designers with innovative technology to help them maintain complete control over their IFC data, and we’re very excited to be a part of solutions like this partnership that will enhance collaboration and improve the quality of data exchanged among project stakeholders.”

Using simblebim

By using simplebim, designers, contractors and building owners can review IFC data in a model-centric, user-configurable interface. Simplebim also has the ability to detect data deficiencies and remove any potential issues, as well as edit and match the data structures to the requirements of other IFC compatible applications. Through capturing the IFC data exchange requirements and validating the models against them, teams can provide feedback to the author or edit the IFC data directly in simplebim without having access to the original model, allowing for streamlined communication and utilization of discipline-specific, IFC-based workflows.

01 – a screen shot of the simblebim interface (courtesy, Datacubist Oy)

“Our goal is to help designers gain a deeper understanding of BIM and everything that surrounds it,” said Jiri Hietanen, CEO and co-founder of Datacubist Oy. “The key to delivering valuable BIM data is to clearly understand the specific requirements of the receiver, and then to use the right workflow and tools for delivering relevant and reliable design information. Through this partnership, we hope to further equip designers to make better BIM decisions and with more precision and reliability than ever before, whether they are a BIM novice or expert.”

To learn more about Vectorworks Architect software and simplebim, please visit www.vectorworks.net/industry-partners.

About Datacubist Oy

Datacubist Oy is a globally operating, privately owned software company registered in Finland. Founded in 2009, its goal is to solve data exchange problems in the building industry by creating solutions that address the business, process and technology aspects of using BIM in real projects. For more information, visitwww.datacubist.com.

Architosh Analysis

simblebim® is a very focused BIM application that will help architects using Vectorworks Architect in an Open BIM workflow to make better use of various IFC files, both their own files targeting consultants, general contractors and owner-reps and those files coming back into the architect’s office. IFC, despite its good intentions as an open, industry -standard file format for the BIM workflows of the AECO industry, has been mocked in the past for its usefulness given inconsistencies among how various programs both export out and import in the IFC file format. simplebim was designed to solve this dilemma by allowing users to qualitatively and quantitatively examine an IFC for its data accuracy and integrity as well as its overall fitness as structured data within the IFC 2×3 context.

simplebim is a Windows only application so architects using Vectorworks Architect on the Mac will need to employ a Windows machine or run simplebim via Boot Camp implementation in order to tap into the usefulness of this application.