Curating Architectural 3D CAD Models

Abstract

Increasing demand to manage and preserve 3-dimensional models for a variety of physical phenomena (e.g., building and engineering designs, computer games, or scientific visualizations) is creating new challenges for digital archives. Preserving 3D models requires identifying technical formats for the models that can be maintained over time, and the available formats offer different advantages and disadvantages depending on the intended future uses of the models. Additionally, the metadata required to manage 3D models is not yet standardized, and getting intellectual proposal rights for digital models is uncharted territory. The FACADE Project at MIT is investigating these challenges in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry and has developed recommendations and systems to support digital archives in dealing with digital 3D models and related data. These results can also be generalized to other domains doing 3D modeling.