As you may have already noticed, I've had a new role as Product Manager in the Autodesk Data Exchange team since the beginning of October. I have already received a few worried questions as to whether this means that I am "no longer doing IFC" - this is of course not the case, quite the opposite: in my new role I am all the more concerned about interoperability and IFC as an open data standard naturally also plays a major role here!
So what is Autodesk Data Exchange?
Data Exchange is a new approach to data management based on granular data - similar to the AEC Data Model. While the AEC Data Model is intended to make entire files and models (currently limited to the Revit format) accessible in granular form via the API, Data Exchange takes a different approach and enables the targeted exchange of specific subsets of granular data.
The actual data exchange happens through Data Connectors- plugins for various software products such as Revit, Rhino, Tekla or Power BI.
These plugins allow the extraction of a subset of data based on a specific view, or the targeted selection of specific categories - the resulting Data Exchange contains only the selected elements and their information. This data is stored and made available through the Autodesk Construction Cloud, where it can be reviewed and then loaded by another Data Connector.
The most common question is often: why don't I just use IFC? While IFC still makes sense in many workflows, Data Exchange offers some advantages in certain cases:
- Creating Data Exchange is somewhat more intuitive and often faster, as Data Exchange is created based on the WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) principle and exports only the visible components - in the case of Revit including the view or phase filters (yes, including demolished or temporary elements!)
- Data Exchanges can be created directly in the browser for Revit models that are stored on the Autodesk Construction Cloud and can be updated automatically every time a new version of the Revit file is published This eliminates the need for manual export - and everyone who has already consumed the Data Exchange is notified of the availability of a new version via their Data Connector.
- In certain cases, it may also be interesting for Revit users to know that the granular data is format-neutral - this means that even Elements from Revit 2025 can be referenced in Revit 2024 via Data Exchange and used for coordination or documentation workflows (Please note: the Revit Data Connector currently creates elements in the native Revit category, however these are not editable).
In the following video, which by the way is an excerpt from our recent webinar, you can see some of these use cases in detail:
Of course, everything has its pros and cons and here are some workflows where IFC certainly has advantages and should be the recommended choice:
- IFC is better suited for sharing entire or particularly large models
- IFC is an established data standard and is supported by all BIM solutions, while Data Connectors are not available for all software products yet
- IFC is better suited for archiving purposes or as a deliverable
In the following link collection you will find all information about Data Exchange, including tutorials and download links: https://linktr.ee/autodeskdata
I look forward to your comments, feedback and questions!
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