Development of building information modeling based quantity calculation and 3D visualization software

Estimating the amount and cost of materials to be used in a construction project is one of the most important stages of the design process. Today, with the software used in the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process, quantity calculations and cost estimation are performed much faster than traditional methods. However, the results show significant deviations from the real values, since the BIM software cannot determine the neighborhood relations between the building elements exactly and calculates only the geometric shapes without considering the semantic model of the building elements. In addition, the licensing fees of the software used are quite expensive and are generally used without customization according to local regulations. In this study, it is aimed to develop a software that helps the BIM process with a graphical user interface, which calculates the concrete, formwork, formwork scaffolding and reinforcement quantities of the building by using the free open source python programming language, taking into account the neighborhood relations and semantic representations of the elements that make up the building. The development framework of the software, the algorithms used for the quantity calculations and the 3D visualization process of the structure have been tested with case studies. In the test results, it was determined that the quantity values were calculated with minimum error and the structure was successfully visualized.