Reading List

The COBie standard achieved in several “firsts” in the use of open standard building information. COBie was the first standard to define objectively testable quality control standards that allow automated format verification by software companies and content validation by project teams. COBie was the first standard to address specific requirements for non-geometric building information. COBie was the first standard to document and model each lifecycle process where building equipment information is created, updated, and applied to predict of potential reduction in direct and overhead costs resulting from its adoption on projects and portfolios. COBie has been the only IFC-based non-geometric standard that conformed to International Alliance for Interoperability and buildingSMART alliance technical standards for Information Delivery Manuals and Model View Definitions. Aside from geometric coordination, which has now been largely integrated directly into design software, COBie is the most widely used open standard for the delivery of building information in use today.

For those who may not be familiar with the COBie project this appendix provides a reading list demonstrating these claims. Where possible URL’s for the document of record is provided (as of 22-Jun-20).

COBie Standards and Guidance

2007. Initial COBie Technical Report 1.0 defining process-based information transactions during design and construction.

2008. Publication of “Installation Technology Transfer Program: COBie IFC Model View”. Not available by URL.

2009. Publication COBie 2.0 as the Basic FM Handover IFC 2.3 MVD, published by buildingSMART international.

2011. Publication of COBie 2.0 on the buildingSMART international IDM Confluence Repository. Site no longer active.

2012. Publication of COBie 2.26 in in National BIM Standard - United States®, Version 2.0.

2012. Draft COBie Guide, the commentary to NBIMS-US v2 to be used for local adoption.

2013. Publication of COBie 2.4 as the COBie MVD, IFC4 (backward compatible with IFC 2.3).

2014. COBie Draft Guide Specification, to be used for local adoption.

2014. COBie required by reference to what was the draft NBIMS-US V3, Chapter 4.2/Annex A in British Standard 1192.

2015. Inclusion of COBie 2.4 as Chapter 4.2 in National BIM Standard - United States®, Version 3.0,

2015. Publication of COBie 2.4 IFC schema to COBie spreadsheet physical file format, NBIMS-US, V3, Chapter 4.2, Annex A.

2015. Publication of COBie 2.4 IFC schema to COBieLite - A NEIM Complaint XML Schema for transactinonal exchange of COBie data BIMS-US, V3, Chapter 4.2, Annex A.

Public Test Files

2008-2014. Dormitory, Office, and Medical Clinic Test Files: First and second-generation models used for software company demonstration of COBie import and export and laboratory testing.

2015-Present. Dormitory Life-Cycle Models: Life-Cycle demonstration of COBie deliverables recognized at the 2018 bSi Award Program.

Open Source Testing Software

The following open source software require administrative access to install.

To extract COBie and verify data in overloaded Coordination MVD SPFF Files. COBie Plug-in for BIMserver.org.

To verify COBie data in COBie spreadsheet physical file format. COBie QC Reporter.

Potential Extensions

Right from the start of the COBie project, those using COBie have been trying to establish common property set definitions that may be added as a requirement for the list of building equipment provided by COBie. The reports below document the results the requirements analysis of these additional use cases.

2008. Properties needed for operations and maintenance activities. “Pilot Test of the Construction Operations Building information Exchange (COBie) Format for Army Installations,” Information not available by URL.

2012. Properties needed for prediction of expected energy and water resource utilization. “Life-Cycle Model of Mission-Ready and Sustainable Facilities: Planning Space Resource Utilization.”

2012. Evaluation of product property requirements. “Common Object Library Description.”

2012. Sustainable building product data extensions for COBie. “Sustainability Product Properties in Building Information Models.”

2013. Properties needed for (partial) automated production of sustainability scorecard. “Data Sharing for Sustainable Assessments: Using Functional Databases for Interoperating Multiple Building Information Structures,” .

2013. Predictive model of impact of COBie-enabled project life cycle. “Assessment of Life Cycle information exchanges (LCie): Understanding the value-added benefit of a COBie process.” The resulting COBie Calculator can be used to assess impact of COBie on individual projects or across a portfolio.