A Hitchhiker’s Guide to ArcGIS GeoBIM

ArcGIS GeoBIM delivers an innovative, easy-to-use web-based experience for project teams to explore and collaborate on BIM projects and issues using data from multiple systems in a geospatial context. AEC firms and Owner/Operators can easily work with linked data from multiple systems in configurable web apps that simplify the communication and collaboration with teams and stakeholders.

Refer to Documentation below for further details on the features and capabilities of ArcGIS GeoBIM.

The Documents in ArcGIS GeoBIM are a georeferenced 2D envelope polygon representation of the extents of the design document. For .dwg formats, this only includes model space.

The BIM Projects in ArcGIS GeoBIM is a single or multipart polygon (one polygon per tool type per BIM360/ACC project) based on the ArcGIS GeoBIM Documents.

The ArcGIS GeoBIM Issues points are created from the BIM360/ACC Issues that are then georeferenced based on the document they are associated with. Issues without an associated document will not have geometry but will appear in the data table.

• Assign coordinate system in Civil 3D
• Link DWG file and use shared coordinates in Revit 
• Save PRJ to file and store with documents in BIM360/ACC 

• Use surveyed or queried point for known location
• Specify coordinates at point in Revit
• Save PRJ to file and store with documents in BIM360/ACC 

Specify the geographic location to use Latitude/Longitude (or Map) to define project location

Tip: Keep Survey Point and Project Base Point close to the model to keep Document polygon small

• Assign coordinate system in Civil 3D to define coordinates by WKID 
• Save PRJ to file and store with documents in BIM360/ACC 

• Can be used in AutoCAD or any vertical 
• Supports custom projections 
• Export GIS data to CAD with WKID
• Use ArcGIS for AutoCAD to define WKID
• Save PRJ to file and store with documents in BIM360/ACC 

• Don’t use the geolocation tools in vanilla AutoCAD. While this maintains functionality within AutoCAD, the coordinates are not going to be correct when integrating with GIS.
• Don't store title block information in model space. Content that is not geographic in nature should be in layout space. Miscellaneous content in model space can lead to inaccurate document polygons.

• Use the BIM Cloud Connection to access ACC and BIM360 documents from the ArcGIS Pro Catalog
• Save PRJ to file and store with documents in BIM360/ACC 

• Use the CAD to Geodatabase tool
• Projection will be known automatically
• See the ArcGIS Pro documentation below for details.

• Use the BIM File to Geodatabase tool
• Projection will be known automatically
• See the ArcGIS Pro documentation below for details.

• Make a Building layer using the BIM File to Geodatabase tool as shown above.
• Use the Create Building Scene Layer Package geoprocessing tool
• Refer to the dataset created on the right.
• See the ArcGIS Pro documentation below for details.

• Use ArcGIS Online to create a new item or drag and drop the .splk file you want to publish
• See the ArcGIS Pro documentation below for details

• Use Share as Web Map or Web Scene on the Share tab
• To share individual layers, right click on a layer on your ArcGIS Pro project then click on the Share as Web layer option on the Sharing menu
• See the ArcGIS Pro documentation below for details

Check for linked files that may have content far from the model.

Check model space for objects that are not near the desired content. Content located near 0,0 are almost always incorrect.

Only issues that have been associated with a document can be georeferenced and placed on a map. Set the location in BIM360.

Boston is the default location for Revit files. Update location information (See Georeferencing Revit Documents)

Change project/true north settings in Revit

If you are not familiar with the  Autodesk best practices for Revit Cloud Worksharing , you can review them on the Autodesk Knowledge Network. Another helpful resource is the  RevitCloud Worksharing documentation .

1.   Non-Cloud Model with worksharing turned on uploaded (drag and drop) to BIM360/ACC (Central Model)

a.  Why is this a problem?

When a model has worksharing enabled, local files need to know where the central model is and how to work with it. This does not work when the central model is created on a network then moved to the cloud. A workshared cloud model must be used in the scenario.

b.  How to fix it                                            i.     Download the model                                            ii.    Open the model locally                                                iii.   Detach from central                                        iv.   Save as new file                                               v.    Follow the steps to create a workshared cloud model

2.   Non-Cloud Model with worksharing turned on uploaded to BIM360/ACC (Local File)

a.  Why is this a problem?

A local file should never be uploaded to the cloud and will never function correctly. This can happen if the user didn’t know the .rvt file was a local file or they thought they could create a workshared cloud model using the local file.

b.  How to fix it                                                 i.   Find the central model and save it as a cloud model

c.  Or                                                   i.   Download the local file                                                 ii.  Save as central model                                             iii. Open central model with detach from central option                                               iv.  Follow the steps to create a workshared cloud model

3.     Revit model is not a Cloud Model

a.  Why is this a problem

The only way to open a model stored in the cloud and retain exclusive rights is to store it as a cloud model. Otherwise, the only way to edit the model is to download the file (does not lock it so other users can do the same thing at any time), make the edits, save and close the file, then drag and drop it into the same folder to create a new version.

b.  How to fix it?                                                   i.   Download the model from the cloud                                           ii.  Delete the model in the cloud (it will be moved to the deleted files but can still be restored if needed)                                            iii.  Open the downloaded model                                     iv.  Save as cloud model

Revit can export models as IFC files in several formats with a variety of metadata. In this section, we will share the optimal setup options to achieve the best results in ArcGIS GeoBIM, in case you want to process IFC models in your project. If you are not familiar with the IFC export in Revit, review the complete documentation  Exporting to Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)  from Autodesk help. 

IFC files should be exported after you have georeferenced your Revit model following the steps in the "Georeferencing BIM Documents" section of this story map. The most common ways of georeferencing a model in Revit is using Shared Coordinates – via linked DWG, and using specified Coordinates – based on surveyed or queried point. 

In this section, we provide the best practices with the Revit 2023 as an example. However, Revit has been supporting the IFC export starting with the version Revit 2018. As expected, each version has a slightly different workflow user experience along with changes on the user interface. Following our best practices below, you should be easily finding your way even with an older version of IFC exporter in Revit.

Starting with the Revit 2022, the IFC exporter is embedded into the core software architecture. If you have an older version of Revit, make sure that you have the latest version of the IFC exporter. You can download the IFC exporter from the Autodesk App Store. Use the embedded links below to download the IFC exporter:

ArcGIS GeoBIM supports IFC4, IFC2x3, and IFC2x2. Although  we support many IFC entities to georeference a model, we recommend IFC4 with the following IFC metadata at minimum: IFCSite, IFCProjectedCRS, and IFCMapConversion. If you enter the EPSG (aka WKID) code of the coordinate system and use the Project Base Point as Coordinate Base, the Revit 2023 would export the optimal entities for the correct georeferencing in IFC. Complete these steps to enter these values: 

1. Open your model in Revit 2023.
2. Go to the File > Export > IFC Export.

3. Select the “IFC4 Reference View [Architecture]” as the current selected setup.  

Note:  We suggest using the “IFC4 Reference View [Architecture]” to create a light weight IFC file in the end. This file should be easy to process and visualized by any IFC viewers even with a non-certified viewer. You can also consider exporting with the "IFC4 Design Transfer View Setup", if you want to process your IFC file further in another BIM tool. With the Design Transfer option, the smart semantics (parametric values like wall thickness ) and BIM related information would be added to your IFC file.

4. Click “Modify setup” Modify your export setup.  5. Go to the Tab “Geographic Reference” -> Select “Project Base Point”.   6. Enter the EPSG or WKID code for your projection.

7. Click OK to close the dialog.  8. Click Export to export your IFC model.

After following the steps above, you will see the IFC entities IFCSite, IFCProjectedCRS, and IFCMapConversion populated within the newly exported IFC model.

Note: Exporting IFC 4.3 is supported experimentally in Revit 2024 at the moment. The IFC exporter in general has an identical user experience in Revit 2024 so you can follow the steps above to export the IFC 4.3 files. The ArcGIS GeoBIM June 2023 release now supports IFC 4.3.