Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)

conceptual data schema and exchange file format for building information modelling (BIM) data

BS EN ISO 23387:2020

In general, IFC, or “Industry Foundation Classes”, is a standardized, digital description of the built environment, including buildings and civil infrastructure. It is an open, international standard (ISO 16739-1:2018), meant to be vendor-neutral, or agnostic, and usable across a wide range of hardware devices, software platforms, and interfaces for many different use cases. The IFC schema specification is the primary technical deliverable of buildingSMART International to fulfill its goal to promote openBIM®.

https://technical.buildingsmart.org/standards/ifc/

More specifically, the IFC schema is a standardized data model that codifies, in a logical way…

…the identity and semantics (name, machine-readable unique identifier, object type or function)…

…the characteristics or attributes (such as material, color, and thermal properties)…

…and relationships (including locations, connections, and ownership)…

…of objects (like columns or slabs)…

…abstract concepts (performance, costing)…

…processes (installation, operations)…

…and people (owners, designers, contractors, suppliers, etc.).

https://technical.buildingsmart.org/standards/ifc/

IFC is the existing schema for structured information models (combinations of geometrical information and non-geometrical data concerning design and construction projects and built assets). It is defined in BS EN ISO 16739-1:2018.

BIM Interoperability Expert Group (BIEG)