Cover Image: buildingSMART Deutschland e. V.
Štefan Jaud served as Technical Lead for the second BIM Fit Check, held September 23, 2025 at the Titanic Chaussee hotel in Berlin during the buildingSMART International Summit. For the first time, two use cases ran on the same afternoon — axis exchange and georeferencing, each with its own test models, evaluation criteria, and jury.
Photo: buildingSMART Deutschland e. V. — Full gallery at picdrop
The problem this format is trying to solve
There is a familiar deadlock in IFC implementation. Clients don’t require correct georeferencing or alignment data in IFC files because they’ve learned that most software can’t deliver it reliably. Software vendors don’t invest in fixing it because nobody writes it into their contracts. Engineers can’t produce compliant models because the tools aren’t there. Nobody moves first.
The BIM Fit Check is buildingSMART Deutschland’s answer to that deadlock. It works like a live integration test in public: software companies prepare for months with technical support from IFC experts, then demonstrate their product’s implementation in front of a jury and an audience. If the software passes, the company gets a digital badge and public recognition. The standard gets validated. And the excuses run out.
What was actually tested
The georeferencing track ran the same scenario as the first round in Essen — same question, same IFC 4.3 entities, extended to a new set of participants. See the Essen event report for the full test description.
The alignment exchange track worked through a railway scenario. An engineering company designs a horizontal and vertical alignment and submits IFC to the client for code compliance checking. The test asks whether the semantic alignment structure survives the round trip: IfcAlignment, IfcRelNests, IfcLinearElement, horizontal and vertical segments, all present and intact in IFC 4.3. Not a visualization check. The semantics have to be there.
Both scenarios come directly from what infrastructure engineering firms deal with on real projects.
The months before the day
The challenge day is just the last step. Getting there took months of preparation. The test models and evaluation criteria were developed jointly with the jury members. Štefan then ran technical support calls from July through August, working through IFC implementation details with each participating company. The goal was not to catch anyone out. It was to get the standard correctly implemented before the camera was on.
The day
September 23, 2025. The buildingSMART International Summit had gathered in Berlin that week to mark thirty years of buildingSMART. Both BIM Fit Check tracks ran simultaneously that afternoon at the Titanic Chaussee hotel — eight companies on the axis exchange, three on georeferencing, two separate juries evaluating in parallel.
Axis exchange
Eight companies tested their software against the axis exchange use case:
| Company | Software |
|---|---|
| AKG Software | VESTRA INFRAVISION |
| albert.ing | squirrel 3.0 |
| A+S Consult | KorFin® |
| IB&T Software | card_1 |
| QLX | smarttrass |
| RIB Software | RIB Civil |
| ProVI GmbH | ProVI CAD |
| Safe Software with conterra | FME Platform |
Jury: Andreas Pinzenöhler (IQSOFT), Peter Bonsma (RDF Ltd.), Richard Brice (Bridge and Structures Office, Washington State)
Georeferencing
Three companies tested correct coordinate reference system handling in IFC:
| Company |
|---|
| RIB Software |
| A+S Consult |
| Safe Software with conterra |
Jury: Prof. Dr. Christian Clemen (HTW Dresden), Andreas Geiger (KIT), Christoph Kautter (DB InfraGO AG)
All nine passed
The digital badges from buildingSMART Deutschland followed the next day at the Summit Social on September 24. The first round in Essen had covered georeferencing with six companies. Berlin added a second use case and a larger participant pool, with separate juries running simultaneously for each track.
Badge: buildingSMART Deutschland
Source: buildingSMART Deutschland — BIM Fit Check im Rahmen des buildingSMART International Summit
Photo: buildingSMART Deutschland e. V. — picdrop gallery