Projects Updates

POSC/Caesar Update

POSC/Caesar Update POSC/Caesar recently held their 2nd Annual and Member meeting in Stavanger, Norway during which it was announced that their Data Model would be available in June 1999 and the Reference Data Library in November 1999. The Data Model has been harmonised with work done with ISO 10303-221. POSC/CAESAR has worked with the P&P industry to harmonise the core classes of the POSC/CAESAR Reference Data Library with the existing STEPlib.

This will result in Version 1.0 of the POSC/CAESAR specification being made available to its members by the end of 1999 and the first draft of the ISO standard (Committee Draft) being put forward for ballot as ISO 15929. POSC/CAESAR also intends to start the development of a specification for an "application-programming interface" based on experience from take up project. This will provide an implementation layer to facilitate software vendors and suppliers to write software applications.

For further details please visit http://www.posccaesar.org or email to: pca@posccaeesar.org

CIS spreads its wings

The CIMsteel Integration Standards (CIS) were developed for the exchange and sharing of data relating to steel-framed structures. Version one was released in 1995, and version 2 (CIS/2) is currently being prepared for publication by the Steel Construction Institute (in collaboration with the University of Leeds). The software tools employed in the development of the CIS data model included the EDM toolkit, and EPM made valuable technical contributions to that development work.

CIS/2 has recently been endorsed by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), who have recommended this standard to its members as the preferred vehicle for data exchange in North America. The Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association (FCSA) are employing the CIS as the basis of neutral data exchange within Finland's structural steel industry and the British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA) is currently assessing the CIS with a view to recommending a position to its (UK) members.

Although the CIS are not formal STEP (ISO 10303) standards, they make extensive use of STEP technologies and, since the early years of the CIMsteel Project, there has been an intention to develop the CIS into a full ISO standard (10303-230).

For more information see the CIS/2 web site at http://www.cis2.org/ or contact: Andrew Crowley (a.crowley@steel-sci.com) at the Steel Construction Institute.

IAI News

The International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) was launched in September 1995 with the aim of promoting interoperability in the AEC industries through the use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs). The IAI now has Australasian, French Speaking, German Speaking, Japanese, Korean, Nordic, North American, Singapore, and UK Chapters embracing 17 counties and more than 620 companies - including building design firms, manufacturers, construction firms, building owners, facilities managers, and software companies.

The vision is one of changing ways of working in the, currently highly fragmented, AEC industries in order to reduce cost, improve quality and reduce errors. The IAI intend to realize this vision by defining, promoting, and publishing IFC specifications for information sharing: throughout project life cycles, across disciplines, and between technical applications.

The IAI has liaison status with ISO STEP, and makes use of a number of STEP technologies (particularly EXPRESS) in the definition of IFCs. It is a non-profit making body, dedicated to an open data sharing standard, with membership open to any company working in construction or a related industry. Release 2.0 of the IFCs was announced in April this year and a number of vendors are already shipping IFC capable products, with many more developing such products.

For further information, please contact: Arto Kiviniemi - Chairman (Arto.Kiviniemi@vtt.fi) Christopher Groome - Business Director (brt-groome@dial.pipex.com) Richard See - Technical Director (Richard.See@ibm.net). or visit our website at http://www.interoperability.com

EMSA & EPM speed up AP development

The EMSA Building Block server (an email based repository) has been integrated with the EDM toolkit running a Unix Solaris machine (presently at Lloyd's Register). This repository controls change and configuration management on the Ship Product Model among the model developers wherever they are situated in the world.

The EDM Toolkit now allows syntax checking of the Building Blocks (small EXPRESS schemas) before being checked into the repository. Those successfully updated are then also used to produce an html version on a central web site available to EMSA Members. Shortform schemas have also been added (these allow user to specify which BBs are used to configure a specific Protocol). Based upon these Shortforms (also syntactically checked before updated), the Longforms of the Protocols can be generated using the EDM Toolkit to resolve the references in the corresponding Shortform.

The resultant Longform can then be checked for both syntactic and semantic errors using the toolkit. Html pages can be generated for both the Shortforms and Longforms for quick and easy reference to the product model.

The EDM Toolkit has thus, integrated the email-based repository with a new web-based mechanism to publish the latest models within EMSA and a distributed community working towards a common goal. In particular it now makes it possible to develop the web-based side of the system and to perhaps migrate away from the old email system.

The full use and impact of this has yet to become apparent, but already reduces the developers and recipients of some of the tasks of maintaining the consistency of a model spread over 100+ Building Blocks.

For further information please contact Uwe Langbecker at: lgb@hamburg.germanlloyd.de