Data modeling based on a 3D BIM standard and viewer system for the bridge inspections

A data model containing information of design and inspection data is important in inspection, maintenance, and asset management using information and communication technology. In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) bridge information model based on Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), which are a building information modeling standard, for the support of inspection, evaluation, and maintenance. Various data, such as text, photographs, point clouds, and measured polygon meshes, relating to the inspection, evaluation, and repair of a bridge are recorded in the 3D bridge model. A viewer system, which has the ability to visually present not only 3D geometric models but also a virtual-reality environment, is developed to show the model. This system also extracts information from past inspection reports written as documents. A data segmentation procedure is proposed for point clouds and measured polygon meshes.