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Formulated in 2007, COBie is designed to facilitate the process of transferring information from the BIM so that it can be used in Facilities Management. A number of BIM and CAFM packages have been developed to export or import COBie data, but most of them only handle a limited amount of COBie data, and require users to spend time manually adding data to the COBie worksheets.

In order to get a data-rich COBie data file from a Revit model, Autodesk developed the COBie Toolkit for Revit, designed to automatically extract information from Revit, store the data in a separate database and then produce a COBie worksheet using the information stored in the database.

COBIE TOOLKIT
The problem, as any user of Revit will tell you, is that information is generally stored in the BIM in locations and formats that are not entirely categorised in the same way in a COBie worksheet. Revit, for instance, uses two different elements to track area and volumetric spatial data in a building - Rooms and Spaces. Rooms are the domain of architects and Spaces are used by MEP engineers.

Both Rooms and Spaces contain all of the parameters that define each individual element, concerning its identity and location, its spatial data, perimeter, area and volume. Rooms contain information about components, finishes and floors, walls, doors, etc. whilst Spaces contain parameters for engineering data (power and lighting loads, energy analysis).

Families in a Revit model which represent furniture, fixtures and equipment, can be contained in either Rooms or Spaces. COBie, on the other hand, only recognises one element for spatial data, namely Spaces. In order to populate a COBie worksheet, you have to define the element - Room or Space - that a piece of equipment uses to report its location (it could even be in both), basing it on the Revit Category - Doors, for instance - whether that data is to exported from the Room or the Space. Lighting Equipment, for example, would normally take its location from Spaces.

As each COBie element has to have a unique identifier, though, we come across another Revit issue that could cause problems. Revit allows Rooms to have the same name and number as Spaces, considering them two different categories of elements. Exported to COBie as they stand, you would end up with two rows in the same spreadsheet with the same name, which is not at all COBie compliant. This has been solved by a COBie extension option that appends identifying information (arch or MEP) to each name and number (e.g. 101_Office_Arch).

To further confuse the issue, COBie Zones are groups of Spaces, and a COBie Space may belong to more than one Zone. In Revit the only zone tool is called HVAC Zones and it only applies to Revit Spaces, not Rooms - for use with heating and ventilation and associated load calculations. Help, however, comes in the form of the COBie Extension Zone Manager, which allows users to create any combination of Zones and then to assign Revit Rooms and Spaces to one or more Zones.

This is assisted by a helpful 3D view of Zones, Rooms and Spaces. As it contains data set up and managed by the COBie extension Zone Manager, and because it is not explicitly managed by Revit tools, it is stored with the Revit model as 'extensible storage'. Neither can it be accessed by a Revit Schedule. Using the Zone Manager in coordination with the 3D view, users can set up and view COBie spaces within the model view, group them together and create new COBie Zones, and link data from the model with COBie worksheets.

SETUP, MODIFY AND EXPORT
The COBie Extension Toolkit is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, usng wizards where possible to guide users through the process. Clicking on the COBie Extension tab in Revit brings up a landing page that allows users to setup, modify and export a COBie worksheet. Initially, project contracts need to be entered, with email (a unique identifier), name, company, phone required to remain compliant.

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