Autodesk has released the AEC Data Model API, introducing a new way in which data can be accessed either via files or at a granular level. The AEC Data Model API is the first deliverable of a broader granular data ecosystem the company is building–called the AEC data model–that seeks to eliminate the bulky file-based exchange of data.
Built on Autodesk’s Design and Make Platform and underpinning the AECO industry cloud Autodesk Forma, the AEC data model is an open and extensible solution. By connecting people and data across the asset lifecycle, customers can create designs and deliver construction projects.
“The Autodesk Data Model API made it possible for us to extract data from our Revit models and centralize it on the cloud so it’s accessible within our organization,” said Josha van Reij, product manager Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC).
“We’ve been able to reach 60% more structured project data using the API compared to our previous way of working. This means we can glean cross-project insights from more quality data and offer automated client delivery in a standardized way. Moreover, the API is not only used for new projects. We also delve into historical project data, applying AI to identify trends and insights that our teams leverage to generate new business opportunities and innovative ways to deliver value to both existing and new clients.”
Features
The AEC Data Model API begins to establish a common language across the AECO lifecycle, from design authoring all the way through to construction-ready models and operations. Features include:
- Direct cloud access to the granular design data in the AEC data model via a set of GraphQL Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
- The ability to access property information for individual Revit Elements such as dimensions, materials or room and area data
- Open access to property data created in Revit without the need to write application plugins or perform additional processing to retrieve data
- Search across the contents of multiple models at the same time
In the future, the API will expand to provide access to additional types of data, as well as data from other Autodesk products to power experiences and applications for stakeholders.
Autodesk Docs
By making the AEC Data Model API available to customers with Autodesk Docs access, we are expanding Docs as an open common data environment. Docs is evolving from a cloud-based file management system to serve as Autodesk’s AECO common data environment for all our products in the future, so that it will enable access both to files and the granular data within them. Collaborators can access data points they need rather than interacting with the entire model. This makes data accessible across a diverse audience of stakeholders.
