Creating 2d SVG floor plans from IFC files

SVG floor plans extracted from the Medical Clinic model by USACE ERDC and buildingSMART Alliance

IfcConvert converts IFC files into a variety of output formats. Most of you will know these formats include geometrical models, either tessellated and easy to understand for importing applications, such as Wavefront OBJ and Collada, or Boundary Representation models in STEP or IGES with support for curved surfaces. Some of you might know the 0.5.0 branch also features an XML output format that contains a decomposition tree and property data of the building elements.

In collaboration with ROOT B.V. a new two-dimensional geometrical output format is added, called SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). In order to turn the three-dimensional IFC model into 2d floor plans, the model is sliced at horizontal cross-sections. ROOT B.V. uses this format for their web-based tool flatt., an online facility management platform that aggregates sources of additional information into a two-dimensional overview. The development of the SVG conversion has been executed by AECgeeks, a consultancy company founded by one of the main contributors to IfcOpenShell. Both companies are strongly committed to free open source software, so we are happy to see that these developments are merged back into IfcOpenShell for the greater public good.

The SVG output format of IfcConvert is integrated into the public IfcOpenShell source code as of today. The image on the right does not show the direct output of IfcConvert, the isometric projection is added in a vector graphics manipulation tool.