IFC 4.3.0.0 (IFC4X3) final

3 Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms

For the purpose of this document, the following definitions apply.

3.1.1 actor

person, an organization, or person acting on behalf of an organization

3.1.2 attribute

unit of information within an entity, defined by a particular type or reference to a particular entity

3.1.2.1 direct attribute

scalar values or collections including Set (unordered, unique), List (ordered), or Array (ordered, sparse) as defined in [ISO 10303-11]

3.1.2.2 inverse attribute

unit of information defining queries for obtaining related data and enforcing referential integrity

3.1.2.3 derived attribute

unit of information computed from other attributes using an expression defined in the schema

3.1.2.4 constraints on attributes

data type restricting the values of attributes

3.1.3 classification

categorization, the act of distributing things into classes or categories of the same type

3.1.4 constraint

restriction for a specified reason

3.1.5 control

directive to meet specified requirements such as for scope, time, or cost

3.1.6 dictionary

collection of words, terms or concepts, with their definition

3.1.7 element

tangible physical product that can be described by its shape representation, material representations, and other properties

3.1.7.1 element occurrence

element's position within the project coordinate system and its containment within the spatial structure

3.1.8 entity

class of information defined by common attributes and constraints as defined in ISO 10303-11

3.1.9 external reference

link to information outside the data set, with direct relevance to the specific information the link originates from inside the data set

3.1.10 feature

parametric information and additional property information modifying the shape representation of an element to which it applies

3.1.11 group

collection of information that fulfills a specified purpose

3.1.12 identification

capability to find, retrieve, report, change, or delete specific instances without ambiguity

3.1.13 instance

occurrence of an entity

3.1.14 library

catalogue, database or holder of data, that is relevant to information in the data set

3.1.15 model

a data set, governed by the structure of an underlying schema, to meet certain data requirements

3.1.16 model view

subset of a schema, representing the data structure required to fulfill the data requirements within one or several exchange scenarios

3.1.16.1 concept

rules on using a subset of the schema structure identified as a concept template to enable a certain functionality within the context of a concept root contained in a model view

3.1.16.2 concept template

the specification of a subset of the schema structure to enable a certain unit of functionality

3.1.16.3 concept root

an entity of a schema used to assign concepts to describe the required functionality

3.1.17 object

anything perceivable or conceivable that has a distinct existence, albeit not material

3.1.17.1 object occurrence

characteristics of an object as an individual

3.1.17.2 object type

common characteristics shared by multiple object-occurrences

3.1.18 process

object-occurrence located in time, indicating "when"

3.1.19 product

physical or conceptual object that occurs in space

3.1.20 project

encapsulation of related information for a particular purpose providing context for information contained within

3.1.21 property

unit of information that is dynamically defined as a particular entity instance

3.1.21.1 property occurrence

unit of information providing a value for a property identified by name

3.1.21.2 property template

metadata for a property including name, description, and data type

3.1.21.3 property set occurrence

unit of information containing a set of property occurrences, each having a unique name within the property set

3.1.21.4 property set template

set of property templates serving a common purpose and having applicability to objects of a particular entity

3.1.22 proxy

object that does not hold a specific object type information

3.1.23 quantity

measurement of a scope-based metric, specifically length, area, volume, weight, count, or time

3.1.24 relationship

unit of information describing an interaction between items

3.1.25 representation

unit of information describing how an object is displayed, such as physical shape or topology

3.1.26 resource

entity with limited availability such as materials, labor, or equipment

3.1.27 schema

the definition of the structure to organize data for storage, exchange and sharing, using a formal language

3.1.28 space

area or volume bounded actually or theoretically

3.1.29 type

basic information construct derived from a primitive, an enumeration, or a select of entities

3.1.29.1 select

construct that allows an attribute value to be one of multiple types or entities

3.1.29.2 enumeration

construct that allows an attribute value to be one of multiple predefined values identified by name

  • AEC: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction
  • AEC-FM: Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management
  • BIM: Building Information Modeling
  • GUID: Globally Unique Identifier
  • IFC: Industry Foundation Classes
  • IFD: International Framework for Dictionaries
  • MVD: Model View Definition
  • SPF or SPFF: STEP Physical File
  • STEP: STandard for the Exchange of Product data
  • URI: Uniform Resource Identifier
  • UUID: Universally Unique Identifier
  • XML: Extensible Markup Language