FROM Preface:This is the first book dealing with the electronic representation of buildings for data exchange and collaboration, what are called building product models. Up to now, all the efforts in building modeling have been scattered in research journals and conference proceedings, or recorded in minutes of standards meetings, or made available as draft standards on the Internet. This book presents the history of building models as well as the concepts, technology, and methods now used to develop them. It reviews and critiques recent standards efforts, including those by ISO-STEP and the International Alliance for Interoperability. It lays out the unresolved research areas, laying the groundwork for the next generation of building models. It is an indispensable source for organizations anticipating developing electronic data exchange of building information in all forms, including the Web.