Program 2: Low Carbon Precincts
The PIM project will deliver an open data model that defines how information is structured for precinct-scale digital modelling across the breadth of the CRCLCL initiatives. This will facilitate the delivery of accurate, timely, consistent and relevant information to inform decision making throughout the lifecycle of an urban precinct. The beneficiaries of this work range from an urban designer/planner wishing to measure projected carbon costs during precinct planning, a utility company endeavouring to optimise their operations to reduce carbon impact, a manufacturer managing the carbon efficiency of their building product or a householder seeking to understand the carbon impact of their decisions.
A Precinct Information Model (PIM) is a comprehensive 3D digital database model of a precinct that contains all the Information needed to support planning, design, development, construction, management, operation, use and retro-fitting of urban precincts.
The CRCLCL's focus is directed towards minimisation of carbon throughout the precinct life cycle, supported by a PIM. In a broader context, a PIM could be used for a whole range of other purposes.
Since the physical world is made up of objects, generally constructed or adapted by us for our convenience, it is natural to construct a PIM as a collection of objects (building, bridge, road, park, etc.) and then associate data or information with those objects. Importantly, that data could be drawn from all kinds of existing sources through live database links: usage data, planning data, utility data, social data, product performance data, etc.
Note that many of those objects can be broken down as an aggregation of smaller objects, so a road is made up of footpaths, kerbs, gutters, traffic lanes, and those objects can be further broken down into the parts that are used to construct them (materials and structures). Furthermore, a road is actually part of a larger network of roads forming a transport system, which in itself is an object.
So, how do we identify all the objects that need to be represented in a PIM? The simple answer is that we listen to the terms used by experts when talking about precincts from their particular disciplinary perspective.
Although this can lead to ambiguity, at the end of the day they are all talking about the same things (the physical objects that make up the precinct), albeit at a different scale or degree of granularity or from a distinct disciplinary perspective. We refer to those as “model views”: different people at different times view the precinct in different ways depending on their purpose or motivations.
The research challenge of the PIM project is to explore all these different views of a precinct and develop a comprehensive digital model that accurately captures all the information needed to support all those different views of the precinct, and all the activities undertaken to deliver a low carbon built environment (whether we start with a greenfield, brownfield or greyfield, or are simply retrofitting an existing precinct to reduce its carbon load).
How is all this data brought together? The core PIM model is held in a PIM object database, which in turn links to many other sources of data to deliver the specific information required for a particular view of the precinct.
There are a set of technology tools and techniques that can be used to construct PIM models, generally related to database systems, web-based communication methods and process modelling approaches. The PIM research team has all those resources and is skilled at deploying them to deliver PIMs. In general, the professional activity used to deploy those technologies and techniques is known as information modelling.
It is critical to note that most of the activities described above that are supported by a PIM are carried out using computer applications. Many of those are proprietary software tools that already exist, or may be new software tools or techniques that are developed by the CRCLCL. In all cases, those applications make use of information contained in the PIM, but generally based on a very specific “model view”.
That leads to a core aim of the PIM Project: we want to define the core PIM based on a common agreed standard that supports all the required model views so that the same precinct information can be shared effectively across all those activities without duplication of effort or loss of information integrity. That is the core research challenge in the PIM project.
Importantly, the PIM becomes a vehicle for connecting all the disparate datasets that are required to deliver a low carbon built environment.
Program
Project leader
Jose Bilbao, UNSW
Project status
Complete
Project period
10/2018 to 06/2019
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Peer Reviewed Research Publications
RP2011: Journal article: Including Stakeholder Intent in Precinct Information Models
Planning, building, and occupying a precinct, involves many stakeholders over significant periods of time. The development and evolution of the precinct is determined through decisions made by these stakeholders, jointly or singly, in response to perceived existing problems, or to satisfy anticipated future needs. The stakeholders are therefore all participating in an ongoing “design” process for the precinct. The current state of the precinct (its physical, social, psychological “fabric”) at any given time is a result of their cumulative decisions. However, the dynamic that drives the evolution of the precinct is expressed through stakeholder indicators of future intent (stated problems and/or aspirational visions).
Stakeholders come and go over the lifetime of a precinct. Their interests in, and perspectives regarding, the precinct vary, which means that the information they require or generate about the precinct also varies. Additionally, the software they use varies, so information has tended to remain in separate repositories (financial, urban planning, building design, and other specialities) This disaggregation of interest over time can lead to losses of information, miscommunication between stakeholders, and ultimately to a lack of any shared meaning about the precinct especially if the intent of stakeholders that has driven decisions is not retained.
The ongoing Precinct Information Modelling research project within the CRC for Low Carbon Living seeks to address the issue of information sharing for precincts. This paper describes the data entities defined in the author's own research on design briefing that now have been appended to the proposed standardised PIM data schema to allow for this perceived need to integrate stakeholder intent.
Read the paper HERE.
RP2011: Journal article: Proposal for an open data model schema for precinct-scale information management
This paper reports on a project currently underway to investigate how an open exchange standard for modelling information at the scale of an urban precinct can be used to support integrated solutions to achieve low carbon targets in the built environment.
The project is part of a major research initiative to deliver on low carbon targets in Australia. The project builds on the concept of BIM to develop an object-oriented approach to modelling the built environment at a broader urban scale, focusing in the first instance on a precinct, being any region within an urban context that can be regarded as an integrated whole for the purposes of planning, design or management. This approach is referred to as precinct information modelling (PIM) and provides a key mechanism to bridge the information modelling gap between building scale (BIM) and the spatial scale.
The paper argues the case for such an approach, proposing that the current IFC data model, and recent work that is investigating how that data model can be extended to handle transport infrastructure elements such as roads and bridges, can be adapted with modest extensions to serve this purpose. The paper describes this approach, proposing an initial data model and addressing several key strategies and principles that influence the work (e.g. commonality of concepts to maintain semantic integrity and the use of data dictionaries to define concept hierarchies).
The paper offers a review of current approaches, reflects on a couple of trial implementations and provides a discussion of how this work can be carried forward.
Read the paper HERE.
CRCLCL Project Reports
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Outcomes Report
The work undertaken in the CRCLCL PIM Project (RP2011) was presented at an Industry Symposium on 15 September 2017, which is reported in this document. The aim was to demonstrate how Precinct Information Modelling (PIM), based on an open information exchange standard, can enable more effective urban planning, design and management at a precinct scale.
This report summarises the outcomes from the discussion during the Panel Session, drawn primarily from the contributions of the panel members. This is done under three sections: possible exemplar precincts that may be used to implement/test aspects of the PIM approach; project opportunities that could serve to explore specific aspect of PIM; and key messages that emerged out of the discussion.
You can also read the Empowering Broadway Phase One Research Report HERE.
Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Empowering Broadway (595636 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: Object Library
Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: Object Library (4528109 PDF)
RP2011: Final Report: Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: PIM Schema
This technical investigation presents the precinct information (PIM) data schema. The schema is an extension of the current IFC data schema that is used widely for building works. Apart from buildings, precincts also contain infrastructure objects such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, and outdoor civic spaces that contribute to the overall carbon impact and therefore need to be modelled.
PIM considers buildings and infrastructure equally as “built facilities”. Additionally, PIM provides a means to model vegetation that will allow for mitigation factors to be determined when assessing urban heat island effects. The proposed extensions to IFC are defined in a way that generalizes, but does not break, existing IFC functionality.
Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigations: Precinct Information Schema (941428 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: PIM Prototype Tools
Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: PIM Prototype Tools (1192349 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: Land Use
Precinct Information Modelling Technical Investigation: Land Use (6530721 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Project Progress Report 2016
Project Progress Report 2016 (1186860 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Urban Heat Islands
Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Urban Heat Islands (577993 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Integrated Carbon Metrics
Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Integrated Carbon Metrics (467198 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Energy Transport Water Waste
Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Energy Transport Water Waste (631007 PDF)
RP2011: Report: Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Empowering Broadway
Precinct Information Modelling Collaboration: Empowering Broadway (584876 PDF)
RP2011 National Position Paper: Precinct Information Modelling
This position paper describes the development of an open data model for representing a precinct in a format that allows it to be shared across all application software tools that are used in the process of managing the built environment, with a focus on carbon management.
RP2011 National Position Paper: Precinct Information Modelling (2642663 PDF)
Research Snapshot Poster - RP2011
Research Snapshot A3 size poster from Participants Annual Forum 2014
Research Snapshot Poster - RP2011 (1566373 PDF)
Partners related to this project
- UNSW Sydney
- The University of Melbourne
- Renewal SA, Government of South Australia
- Multiplex
- Aurecon
- AECOM
CRCLCL in Sustainability Matters: 3D modelling for sustainable urban planning
Posted 22 September 2017 - 10:29am
'3D modelling for sustainable urban planning', Sustainability Matters, 21 September 2017
The CRC for Low Carbon Living (CRCLCL) recently held a special symposium discussing exciting new research into Precinct Information Modelling (PIM) — a type of 3D digital prototyping that promises to be a game changer for planning future city precincts. Read the full piece here
CRCLCL in The Fifth Estate: Precinct information modelling can help cities get to net zero
Posted 22 September 2017 - 10:21am
'Precinct information modelling can help cities get to net zero', The Fifth Estate, 21 September 2017
3D precinct information modelling (PIM) could be a “game-changer” in the planning of future sustainable cities, according to new research from the CRC for Low Carbon Living. Read the full piece here
Media Release: New 3D modelling an urban-planning game-changer for carbon neutrality
Posted 15 September 2017 - 9:00am
New 3D digital prototyping promises to be a game-changer for planning future city precincts, or engaging the community, to ensure they are both sustainable and carbon neutral.
The Precinct Information Modelling (PIM) research, funded by the CRC for Low Carbon living (CRCLCL) and involving industry and academic partners, is being discussed today at a special industry symposium: Using Precinct Information Modelling (PIM) to Support Carbon Management.
The concept of PIM is an extension of the currently used Building Information Modelling (BIM), a 3D digital modelling process that is used widely within the building design, construction and facility management professions.
CRLCL Project Leader, Jim Plume said the new research shows that by adapting this current technology within an open source PIM structure, there is enormous potential to make a serious difference in reducing carbon emissions and ensuring future city precincts are sustainable and carbon neutral.
“After three years of research looking at how this data can be structured and operated in an open source model, we are now at the threshold of putting it into practice. The next step is for industry and the community to start using PIM,” he said.
PIM is not a software tool, it is an open-source, public information modelling standard that, by its nature, cannot be commercialised, but is designed to provide a framework for representing the data required to achieve carbon neutrality of the urban assets that constitute a precinct.
“PIM entails a process that is supported by a digital database technology that can be used by a wide range of industry practitioners responsible for the planning, design, delivery and operational management of the built environment,” Plume explained.
In addition, the same information can become a resource for the community who are interacting with the built environment, allowing them to contribute to the planning process and outcome – so it is not limited to industry alone.
“In a nutshell PIM can lend critical support for the smart cities and communities that are emerging in response to the challenges of rapid urban growth in Australia and urbanisation across the globe,” said Plume.
“I believe PIM will make a major contribution for communities who aspire to having better, liveable, sustainable, resilient and safe cities for all, not just in Australia but across the globe.
“We are actively part of international efforts to use better information access and sharing to address sustainability issues around the world. A key outcome for us would be an opportunity to implement and refine these technologies in selected, strategic precincts in Australia, keeping us abreast of best global practice,” he said.
Overall, the National Position Paper being discussed at today’s Industry forum, describes the development of PIM as an open data model designed to represent a precinct in a format that can be shared across allapplication software tools used in the process of managing the built environment, with a focus on carbon management.
The discussion will be grounded in the context of precinct planning and development, drawing on interactions with a range of CRCLCL projects from the Low Carbon Precincts Program.
Media enquiries: Sharon Kelly
E: s.kelly@lowcarbonlivingcrc.com.au|
M: +61 414 780 077