Recently two useful articles on BIM have been posted. The first from Cadalyst is a general overview of the BIM product space providing a brief overview of all the major vendors offerings (with links to more info). Light on content but still a useful point of reference none the less. The second is a more in-depth article that reviews the AIA Integrated Practice 2006 conference. The interesting idea put forward in this piece is that architects are not really using BIM tools to model the complete building model but rather are focusing on the drawing aspects of it (referred to as DIM - Drawing Information Model). Conversely it is proposed that the only people currently using BIM for its proper purpose are contractors who are less worried about documentation and more concerned about nuts and bolts (literally).
What this article highlights alongside the work going on at Bentley to do with generative objects is that there is a growing market for specialist information systems workers within the AEC space. These information systems specialists are needed to efficiently and economically achieve the objectives set out by the Building Information Modelling process in terms of model/data gathering and processing. Asking architects, engineers or project managers to undertake this highly important, difficult yet presently overlooked role is a factor leading to the failure of many attempts at achieving a true BIM methodology (rather than simply DIM). It seems only logical really considering the number of third-party contractors already employed in the process (engineers, building scientists, quanitity estimators, surveyors, etc.) that the all important task of efficiently juggling all this information should also be contracted out to a specialist third party. Just a thought...