Bentley is rolling out a new format called i-model that they’re touting as a container for open information exchange. The format is essentially a DGN but with new concepts to support the workflows of integrated project delivery where multiple disciplines need access to shared information beyond simply the exchange of an individual model or file. The i-model container allows for the combination of multiple models and files within an i-model that becomes a self-describing package that is secure, flexible, reusable and accurate.
Bentley suggests thinking of this format as a Zip file, where users are aggregating project information into a single immutable file. There’s a transformation process to create the file that removes redundant information and compresses the source file at roughly a 10:1 ratio. Unlike other formats, the geometry is retained rather than faceted, so that true measurements are maintained.
One of the key features of the i-model is something that Bentley calls provenance – the ability to see who changed what when, and to capture and record comments and workflows. There’s also the idea that the i-model is a new format that can contain enough information and comments to be “unambiguously interpreted.” With the specific goal of collaboration, there’s also a means to control who can open it, and an expiration date so that old data is not acted upon.
In a press session this morning Bentley was grilled about the need to create one more format. The executive team asserted that this new format is the only one that addresses long-term collaborations, and that it doesn’t step on or over other current standards, because it is in essence a DGN. They were specifically asked why a PDF wasn’t good enough, and answered that PDF isn’t rich enough to handle all the details in a DWG and DGN with various reference files, constructs and geometry. The i-model leaves that information intact for such added tasks as analysis and simulation. They indicated that they saw an opportunity to address a problem with a “conceptually right” approach that allows them to leapfrog other formats to solve current user collaboration problems.
The new i-model format will be supported in ProjectWise Navigator V8i (Select Series 1), and will be available in beta format in a month or two. The format is supported by a free viewer and an SDK to allow others to incorporate the format in their own software. Bentley has also created an Autodesk Revit plug-in that adds the ability to save Revit files as i-models for use with Bentley products.
{ 2 trackbacks }