COBie
2.6Terminology
The following terms are used throughout this document. Footnotes refer to links with additional information in the Appendix A: Resources section.
| TERM | DEFINITION | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|
| COBie | Construction to Operations Building Information Exchange | The digital standard defined in this document. |
| NIBS | National Institute of Building Sciences | A not-for-profit, non-government organization committed to supporting advances in building science and technology.1 NIBS is the author of this document. |
| NBIMS-US™ | National BIM Standard-United States® | The National BIM Standard-United States® is a document developed and maintained by NIBS.2 The COBie standard is part of NBIMS-US™. |
| IFC | Industry Foundation Classes | An ISO standard (ISO 16739-1:2018) digital description of the built asset industry. |
| ifcXML | XML Schema Definition for IFC | An XML schema for IFC Step files based on STEP XML transformation rules |
| IDS | Information Delivery Specification | A document that defines the exchange requirements of digital models, which includes how the objects in the model, their properties, their classifications, their values, and their units should be exchanged. |
| MVD | Model View Definition | A subset of the overall IFC schema used to describe a data exchange for a specific use or workflow.3 The COBie standard is considered an MVD of IFC. |
| FM | Facilities Management | The maintenance and management of an organization’s buildings and equipment. |
| O&M | Operations & Maintenance | The tasks, responsibilities, and effort associated with ongoing facilities management. |
| JSON | JavaScript Object Notation | Open standard data file and exchange format based on attribute-value pairs and arrays in human-readable text. |
| GUID | Global Unique Identifier | A 128-bit text string in hexadecimal format used to represent identification of a digital element. |
| Asset | Maintainable assets of a facility for COBie are those items that the owner of a facility will manage in an Operations & Maintenance system. | Maintainable assets can include mechanical equipment, electrical equipment, plumbing fixtures, and other items that require maintenance, upkeep, and replacement. |
| Component | The individual instances of the products and equipment defined in the Type data table. | Components can be part of other components, building an assembly. |
| Entity | Class of information defined by common attributes and constraints as defined in ISO-10303-11. | Like the term “class” in common programming languages, but describing data structures only (not behavior, such as methods). |
| Element | A major component, assembly, or construction entity part which, in itself or in combination with others fulfills a predominating function of a construction entity. | See IFC and MVD use of the term. |
| Attribute | A single unit of data that in a certain context is considered indivisible. | Source: ISO/TS 21089:2018(en), 3.44, modified from term 'data attribute' to 'attribute'. |
| Instance | Occurrence of an entity. | Like the term “instance of a class” in object-oriented programming. |
| Object Types | Common characteristics shared by multiple object occurrences. | Like “class”, “template”, and “type” in other publications. |
| External Reference | Link to information outside the data set, with direct relevance to the specific information. | The link originates from outside of the data set. |
| Data Table or Table | Table of digital information | Tables include rows of data (records) and columns of data headers. COBie is comprised of 19 data tables. |
| Data Field or Field | A single field of digital information | COBie is comprised of 144 data fields. |
| Data Record or Record | A line of related data in a table | Each data table includes rows of data, known as records, representing the assets defined in COBie. |
| Data Value or Value | The data in a data field | COBie requires all data fields to have some value and not be left blank, even if that value is “n/a” (not applicable). |
National BIM Standard-United States® (NBIMS-US™) Version 4
The NBIMS-US™ v4 is a consensus-based national-level standard focused on defining standard approaches and guidelines to defining requirements, planning BIM adoption, and exchanging information between project team members. MORE
