Automating communication in civil engineering

Currently, building companies are focusing many development efforts on improving information transformation processes. However, daily-life practice is characterized by islands of information. Building information normally resides in diverse and distinct sources, such as the heads of experienced engineers, literature, building codes, computer applications, drawings, and databases. Connecting these islands, e.g., by automating communication, is a major challenge. This paper presents an approach to open, high-level, computer-interpretable communication between project participants. "Open" means independent of the participants and their computer systems, "high-level" means that no human interpretation is required for handling information and knowledge, and "computer-interpretable" means that no human interaction is needed for data transfer. The (STEP) productmodeling approach provides a basis for this kind of communication. The writers extended this approach to project modeling and more scope layers. They applied their approach to the integration of design and construction of precast concrete structures.