🎖️ Official ForensicBIM Standards

IFC Quality & Compliance Badges

Every IFC file audited on ForensicBIM is evaluated against 19 rigorous, independent benchmarks. Explore the complete directory of earned badges, visual medals, and the exact qualifying criteria required to unlock each one.

19 Total Badges

Across 3 Evaluation Domains

buildingSMART

ISO 10303-21 & Official Schemas

100% Objective

Automated Mathematical Verification

Trust & Validation

Foundational data integrity, buildingSMART schema conformance, and structural coordinate sanity. These badges verify that your IFC file is compliant, authentic, and free of structural defects.

Valid STEP file

Trust & Validation

Verifies formal buildingSMART schema compliance, standard STEP formatting, and structural syntax validity.

📋 Conditions to Earn

STEP Syntax Valid Conforms strictly to ISO 10303-21 clear text exchange structure format.
IFC Schema Valid Validates against official buildingSMART schema specifications (IFC2X3, IFC4, or IFC4.3).
Header Syntax Valid File header includes valid FILE_DESCRIPTION, FILE_NAME, and FILE_SCHEMA records.
Prerequisites Valid All schema prerequisite entities and foundational definitions are properly satisfied.

💡 Criteria Note: All 4 buildingSMART core topics must pass without invalid syntax or schema errors. Any invalid topic marks the badge as failed.

Real IFC

Trust & Validation

Ensures the model carries real BIM semantics rather than being a bare geometric dummy shell.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Proxy Share ≤ 10% Generic proxy objects (IfcBuildingElementProxy) comprise no more than 10% of total elements.
Unclassified Proxies ≤ 2% Proxies lacking classification references represent at most 2% of all elements in the model.
Carries Effective Data Average effective property facts per element is strictly greater than 0.
≥ 30% Standard Psets or URI Properties At least 30% of properties are standardized buildingSMART property sets (Pset_*) or link to verified external URIs.

💡 Criteria Note: Requires authoring tools to export native architectural/engineering entities instead of unclassified meshes.

Clean export

Trust & Validation

Validates that the export contains zero structural errors, negative dimensions, or spatial hierarchy defects.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Semantic IFC Elements Model must not consist entirely of 100% generic proxies without classification references (non-IFC data).
No Duplicate GlobalIds Exactly 0 duplicate GlobalIds (GUIDs). Every object is globally unique across the dataset.
No Negative Quantities Zero negative dimensions across all physical measurements (length, area, volume, weight).
No Spatial Structure Warnings All physical elements are properly contained within the spatial decomposition hierarchy without orphaned elements.
Exactly One Site Dataset contains exactly 1 IfcSite entity representing the project parcel.

💡 Criteria Note: Eliminates corrupted database entries, proxy-only dummy data, and spatial misalignment when federating multi-disciplinary project files.

Georeferenced

Trust & Validation

Anchors the BIM geometry to an official projected Coordinate Reference System (CRS) for real-world GIS and infrastructure positioning.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Map Conversion with a Projected CRS Georeferencing level ≥ 1 with IfcMapConversion and IfcProjectedCRS defined.
Standardized Schema Entity Full native georeferencing is supported in IFC4 and IFC4.3 (IFC2X3 lacks native CRS entities).

💡 Criteria Note: Essential for civil engineering, infrastructure interfaces, site logistics, and automated GIS map integration.

bSDD

Trust & Validation

Verifies that building components, classifications, properties, or materials are formally linked to the buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) via standard identifiers.

📋 Conditions to Earn

URI from buildingSMART Data Dictionary Contains at least one URI starting with https://identifier.buildingsmart.org in properties, classification references, or materials.
Non-IFC Domain Classification Standard IFC classes and properties (https://identifier.buildingsmart.org/uri/buildingsmart/ifc/) are ignored; custom or national dictionary domains must be referenced.

💡 Criteria Note: Connects BIM objects directly to web-accessible open international data dictionaries (such as Molio, CCI, Uniclass, AASHTO) via bSDD URIs.

Valid alignment

Trust & Validation

Verifies that horizontal, vertical, and 3D linear alignments maintain continuous geometry and 1:1 business-logic-to-geometry correspondence without layout errors or notes.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Alignments Defined Dataset contains at least one IfcAlignment entity representing a roadway, railway, transit, or tunnel axis.
1:1 Semantic-to-Geometric Correspondence Every business segment (IfcAlignmentSegment) corresponds 1:1 to an underlying geometric curve segment (IfcCurveSegment) with matching segment types.
Zero Layout Warnings and Continuity Notes Layout relationships (ALS016/ALS017) are geometrically continuous across joints with 0 notes and 0 warnings.

💡 Criteria Note: Ensures linear infrastructure alignments can be used directly for stationing, earthwork modeling, and machine control without manual repairs.

Data Completeness

Information depth and element property coverage across the model. Awarded in two distinct tiers: Silver (≥ 90%) and Gold (≥ 99.5%). Requires at least 50 elements to ensure statistical significance.

Classified

Data Completeness

Percentage of building elements categorized under a recognized classification system (e.g. UniFormat, OmniClass, Uniclass).

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Silver Tier: ≥ 90.0% Classification coverage across elements meets or exceeds 90%.
Gold Tier: ≥ 99.5% Classification coverage across elements reaches at least 99.5%.

💡 Criteria Note: Models with fewer than 50 elements receive an unknown state ("model too small") to avoid awarding 100% medals on trivial sample snippets.

Classified + URI

Data Completeness

Rewards models whose classifications link directly to resolvable external web URIs or Linked Data ontologies.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Silver Tier: ≥ 90.0% Both classification coverage and URI reference coverage reach at least 90%.
Gold Tier: ≥ 99.5% Both classification coverage and URI reference coverage reach at least 99.5%.

💡 Criteria Note: Connects BIM objects directly to web-accessible knowledge bases, standard specification documents, and digital twins.

Materials

Data Completeness

Evaluates whether building components have explicitly assigned material constituents via IfcRelAssociatesMaterial.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Silver Tier: ≥ 90.0% Material definition coverage across physical components meets or exceeds 90%.
Gold Tier: ≥ 99.5% Material definition coverage across physical components reaches at least 99.5%.

💡 Criteria Note: Crucial for embodied carbon assessments, life cycle analyses (LCA), thermal calculations, and procurement bills.

Materials + URI

Data Completeness

Rewards material associations linked to external digital product registers, EPD databases, or circular supply chain URIs.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Silver Tier: ≥ 90.0% Both material coverage and material URI coverage reach at least 90%.
Gold Tier: ≥ 99.5% Both material coverage and material URI coverage reach at least 99.5%.

💡 Criteria Note: Bridges architectural specifications with machine-readable Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).

Quantities

Data Completeness

Verifies that elements contain explicit element quantities (IfcElementQuantity) for lengths, areas, volumes, and counts.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Silver Tier: ≥ 90.0% Explicit geometric or element quantity sets defined on at least 90% of objects.
Gold Tier: ≥ 99.5% Explicit geometric or element quantity sets defined on at least 99.5% of objects.

💡 Criteria Note: Empowers automated 5D cost estimation without relying on volatile clientside mesh volume approximations.

Typed

Data Completeness

Structural assignment of element occurrences to reusable IFC Type objects (e.g. IfcWallType, IfcDoorStyle).

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Silver Tier: ≥ 90.0% At least 90% of element occurrences are formally bound to an IFC Type definition.
Gold Tier: ≥ 99.5% At least 99.5% of element occurrences are formally bound to an IFC Type definition.

💡 Criteria Note: Ensures DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) modeling principles and centralized parameter management.

Zero proxies

Data Completeness ★ Gold Tier Only

Strict modeling quality ensuring that not a single generic proxy object (IfcBuildingElementProxy) exists in the model.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Model Size Threshold Model must contain at least 50 elements.
Zero Proxy Objects Exactly 0 proxy objects (every element is instantiated as its true domain class).

💡 Criteria Note: Awarded exclusively as a Gold badge. Confirms that no CAD conversion shortcuts or fallback proxies were used.

Fit for Use

Rigorous multi-point readiness checks for specific downstream applications, including automated quantity take-off (QTO), clash-free coordination, generative AI ingestion, facility management, and circularity passports.

Take-off ready

Fit for Use

Certified readiness for automated 5D quantity take-off, cost estimating, and bill of materials generation.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Quantities Coverage ≥ 90% At least 90% of model elements possess defined element quantities.
Materials Coverage ≥ 80% At least 80% of model elements carry assigned materials.
No Negative Quantities Zero negative measurements across all physical dimensions.
Length Unit Defined Base project length unit is explicitly declared in project unit assignment.

💡 Criteria Note: Guarantees quantity surveyors and cost engineers can extract reliable bill of quantities immediately.

Coordination ready

Fit for Use

Suitability for multi-disciplinary clash detection, spatial containment verification, and federated coordination.

📋 Conditions to Earn

buildingSMART Core Checks Not Invalid No invalid status across buildingSMART syntax, schema, header, or prerequisites.
Recognized MVD Declared File header declares a recognized standard Model View Definition.
Exactly One Site Single project site ensures aligned spatial coordinate offsets.
Spatial Containment ≥ 95% At least 95% of components are properly contained within storeys or building facilities.
Proxy Share ≤ 10% Proxies do not exceed 10% of total elements.
Geometry on ≥ 98% of Elements At least 98% of objects carry renderable 3D geometric shapes.

💡 Criteria Note: Ensures the model can be federated into Navisworks, Solibri, BIMcollab, or Revizto without missing geometry or coordinate drift.

AI ready

Fit for Use

High semantic density and standardized metadata structure required for LLMs, autonomous AI agents, and knowledge graphs.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Classification Coverage ≥ 80% At least 80% of elements carry structured classification codes.
Informative Values ≥ 80% At least 80% of property values contain substantive, meaningful facts.
≥ 5 Effective Facts Per Element Average fact density meets or exceeds 5 distinct property facts per component.
Typed Elements ≥ 80% At least 80% of element occurrences are linked to IFC Types.
≥ 30% Standard or URI-defined Properties At least 30% of properties follow standard Psets or reference external URIs.
One Site & No Duplicate GlobalIds Clean structure with 1 site and 0 duplicate GUIDs.
Forensic Data Score ≥ 60 Forensic Data Score reaches at least 60 out of 100.

💡 Criteria Note: Prepares BIM models for automated AI query agents, code compliance LLMs, and semantic reasoning engines.

Operations / FM

Fit for Use Draft Specification

Prepares the asset data for operational handover into Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) and CMMS databases.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Spaces Present Model contains defined rooms/spaces (IfcSpace count > 0).
Classification Coverage ≥ 80% At least 80% of equipment and elements are categorized with classification codes.
Typed Elements ≥ 80% At least 80% of elements link to equipment types.
≥ 5 Effective Facts Per Element Dense asset metadata with at least 5 facts per element.
No Duplicate GlobalIds Unique asset identification across the facility.

💡 Criteria Note: Draft rule: Evaluated under active research criteria while standardized buildingSMART FM dictionaries evolve.

Energy analysis

Fit for Use Draft Specification

Validates space definitions, second-level space boundaries, and material properties for thermal Building Energy Modeling (BEM).

📋 Conditions to Earn

Spaces Present Model contains defined thermal spaces (IfcSpace count > 0).
Space Boundaries Present Thermal relationships defined via IfcRelSpaceBoundary (> 0).
Materials Coverage ≥ 80% At least 80% of envelope and internal elements carry assigned materials.

💡 Criteria Note: Draft rule: Requires second-level space boundaries and material assignments for thermal simulation engines.

Product passport

Fit for Use Draft Specification

Designed for circular construction, disassembly tracking, embodied carbon auditing, and Digital Product Passports.

📋 Conditions to Earn

Materials Coverage ≥ 90% High-fidelity material specification on at least 90% of elements.
Classification Coverage ≥ 80% Uniform classification of building components.
Typed Elements ≥ 80% Component types declared for circular reuse.
≥ 5 Effective Facts Per Element Deep product metadata including manufacturer, origin, and material properties.

💡 Criteria Note: Draft rule: Aligned with upcoming EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) guidelines for construction products.

Trust & Validation

Valid STEP file

Real IFC

Clean export

Georeferenced

bSDD

Valid alignment

Data Completeness

Classified

Classified + URI

Materials

Materials + URI

Quantities

Typed

Zero proxies

Fit for Use

Take-off ready

Coordination ready

AI ready

Operations / FM

Energy analysis

Product passport

See which badges your IFC files can earn today