BIM Mindset-Shift #1 - Groups Pinned Featured
I was a "traditionally educated" construction professional when I got to know the BIM data-driven approach of Simplebim. Soon, I realized that some “shifts” in my initial thinking were necessary. And this had surprisingly practical consequences.
One of them was Grouping Objects.
In the digital era, Groups aren't just selections of objects.
What are they then? The expressions that follow might sound “cryptic” at first… In reality, Groups may soon become our best BIM friends!
So, for now, let's just carefully read them - and pick the one that sounds the least cryptic. Then we look at how tangible they become in the daily work.
Groups are:
• Semantic filters
• Reusable logic blocks
• Dynamic sets (if we want so)
• Targets for automation
… Filters… Logic blocks… Sets… Targets... Doesn't it sound a lot like the way we think?
And that's exactly the point ! Groups allow us to organize model data "in the same way we think".
Freely and purpose-oriented.
Organizing the data in "the same way we think" makes BIM work much simpler.
Let's look at how.
Semantic filters
We rarely want “all" walls. More often, we only need “external bearing” walls, or “internal lightweight” walls, or only the walls relevant for “fire rating”.
What to do? We create a Group - to expresses that "intent": “Only these objects matter for my purpose.”.
Reusable logic blocks
How often do we repeat the same reasoning?… “These are the objects we always calculate quantities for.” … “These are the ones we always need to validate.” … “Only these objects are relevant for export for my discipline.” …
When our reasoning “lives in a Group”, we don’t redo the thinking - we reuse it! Across models, and even projects and teams.
Dynamic sets
Models get updated, names change, properties evolve… If we create a Group as “rule-based”, it updates automatically = without us re-selecting anything.
Instead of wondering whether we updated the take-off selection, if the data is correct also the Group will remain correct. In real projects, this is a big mental relief and real time saver, I find.
Targets for automation
Once we have Groups, we can for example:
• add properties to a meaningfully defined set,
• calculate quantities only where they make sense,
• apply validation rules, colours, and exports consistently.
Here is also where the “Dataflow” idea comes together. A Dataflow is an automated sequence of steps, necessary to "transition" a model from its original purpose to "our" purpose - Well, Groups are the targets in those steps; groupings that - for whatever reason - “we” created, to bring us step by step to our purpose.
As such, they may also vary across steps. As said above: Freely and purpose-oriented.
The same way we think.
Groups are our intent and knowledge "captured" in the model.
That's how I would define Grouping Object in the digital era.
For me, this was a powerful shift. I hope this post helps other "traditionally educated" construction professionals have that same shift.
Happy to exchange comments and experiences!
Read also: Add or Modify Group - Add common Object Groups - Generate Groups by Geometry - Generate Groups by Text Property - Brainstorming with BIM
Comments
3 comments
In this post of Gio Siradze there is a very common, useful application: Using rule-based groups to validate property values
Well said. The ‘abstract’ idea of datacubism is to ‘explode’ the original model and re-assemble it from your own point of view. What does it mean in practice? Very often it means that you group the objects in the model the way you need them.
‘Hybrid groups’ combine the efficiency and re-usablility of rule based groups with the ease-of-use of manual groups. This post explains the concept: Creating "hybrid groups" using dataflows
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