Refinement of the visual code checking language for an automated checking of building information models regarding applicable regulations

With building information modeling becoming mature, this technology provides several new possibilities for improving the checking processes of the design planning regarding the applicable codes in the construction industry. Code compliance checks are essential since they standardize the functions a building must fulfill finally. Currently, these controls are cumbersome and error-prone and performed to a large extent manual by the planning consultants as well as authority officers. To enable an automation, the contents of the applicable guidelines have to be translated into a digital format, which can be read, interpreted and applied by machines. Various approaches focused on a textual or hard-coded translation of the guidelines. To increase the involvement of non-programming users, we introduced the visual code checking language, which uses a visual notation to represent the content of directives machine- as well as human-readable. In the presented paper, the authors present a refinement of the VCCL to increase the coverage rate of the translation capabilities.