Data in the construction industry
The term ‘data’ refers to discrete facts, such as numbers. Data can be structured to create information, organised to produce knowledge and applied to give wisdom, for example, allowing decisions to be made. In terms of the digital economy, data is often described as being the ‘new oil’.
Raw (or unprocessed) data is in the form of numbers and characters that have not been ‘cleaned’/corrected to remove outliers or obvious data entry errors. Field data refers to raw data that is collected in an uncontrolled in situ environment.
- Design and construction (for example, building information modelling).
- Post occupancy evaluation.
- Utilities, building services, meters, building management systems and so on.
- Infrastructure and transport systems.
- Enterprise systems such as purchasing systems, performance reporting, work scheduling, and so on.
- Maintenance and replacement systems.
- Operational cost monitoring.
- ICT systems and equipment.
Smart technologies and the internet of things enable the collection, storage, analysis and distribution vast amounts of data or, as it has become known, ‘Big Data’ (the proliferation of high-volume data). For more information, see Big data and Internet of things.
- Provide greater transparency and encourage participation.
- Make it easier to share and use information.
- Encourage collaboration.
The common data environment (CDE), is the single source of information used to collect, manage and disseminate documentation, the graphical model and non-graphical data for the whole project team (i.e. all project information whether created in a BIM environment or in a conventional data format). Creating this single source of information facilitates collaboration between project team members and helps avoid duplication and mistakes.
To ensure projects are properly validated and controlled as they develop, data is extracted from the evolving building information model and submitted to the client at key milestones. This submission of data is described as a 'data drop' or 'information exchange'.
An asset information model (AIM) is a model that compiles the data and information necessary to support asset management, that is, it provides all the data and information related to, or required for the operation of an asset.
On 25 May 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaced the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. GDPR was designed to harmonise data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy and to reshape the way organisations across the region approach data privacy. For more information, see GDPR.
 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Asset information model.
- Big data.
- BS ISO 16739:2013 Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) for data sharing in the construction and facility management industries.
- Building data exchange.
- Common data environment.
- Data centre cooling.
- Data-centric business model.
- Data-driven mobility.
- Data and behaviours in construction.
- Data and infrastructure productivity.
- Data centres.
- Data collection strategies.
- Data drop.
- Data manager.
- Data Protection Act.
- Data protection.
- Data protection laws.
- Fit for purpose - Big data reveals the construction knowledge gap.
- General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
- Global Unique IDs (GUIDs).
- How data can stop waste.
- Internet of things.
- Large hyper data centres demand for precision cooling.
- Making the most of big data.
- Open data.
- Open data - how can it aid the development of the construction industry?
- Product Data Sheet.
- Product Data Template.
- Room data sheet.
- Smart building.
- Smart construction.
- Top big data tools used to store and analyze data.
- Treating data as part of infrastructure
- Virtual reality and big data disrupting digital construction.