A Systematic Review of Visualization in Building Information Modeling

Building Information Modeling (BIM) employs data-rich 3D CAD models for large-scale facility design, construction, and operation. These complex datasets contain a large amount and variety of information, ranging from design specifications to real-time sensor data. They are used by architects and engineers for various analysis and simulations throughout a facility's life cycle. Many techniques from different visualization fields could be used to analyze these data. However, the BIM domain still remains largely unexplored by the visualization community. The goal of this article is to encourage visualization researchers to increase their involvement with BIM. To this end, we present the results of a systematic review of visualization in current BIM practice. We use a novel taxonomy to identify main application areas and analyze commonly employed techniques. From this domain characterization, we highlight future research opportunities brought forth by the unique features of BIM. For instance, exploring the synergies between scientific and information visualization to integrate spatial and non-spatial data. We hope this article raises awareness to interesting new challenges the BIM domain brings to the visualization community.