Tracking Revit BIM database and individual element property modification

[jeremytammik]

Dear Revit API community,

Would you like to take a sneak peek at my day's work at the Cloud Accelerator and DevWeek here in Munich?

https://vimeo.com/152442481

How did i do it?

Blogging about it tomorrow!

Cheers,

Jeremy

[Anonymous]

Very nice. I was wondering how long this process will take on bigger models ? Any indication ? How big was this project ?

And what changes does it track ? When you insert a door in the wall, is that tracked aswell ? And what about when I change the wall type ? (I know, lots of questions but I really think its cool 🙂 )

[jeremytammik]

Dear Remy,

This is the standard rac_advanced_sample.rvt project included with Revit.

More than 5000 elements are being tracked.

Yes, I tested moving windows and doors in walls.

In that case, both the door and the wall hosting it are reported.

Cheers, 

Jeremy

[jeremytammik]

Published now:

http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com/blog/2016/01/tracking-element-modification.html

https://github.com/jeremytammik/TrackChanges

Looking forward to your comments!

Thank you!

Cheers,

Jeremy

[GallowayUS_com_RonAllen1]

@jeremytammik 

Fast forward to 2018 & 2020 and on - How is 360 tracking this information? Comparative database or a date marker to indicate something was touched and modified?

[jeremy_tammik]

Dear Ron,

No idea, you tell me: how is BIM360 tracking modifications?

Cheers, 

Jeremy

[RPTHOMAS108]

I too have no idea but the topic always interests me from the tracking/costing/organising changes perspective.  

If an element is removed and later reinstated in the exact same place with exact same features is it the same element or a different element? These are always the issues: what makes an element the same element to the degree that someone cares about the difference? If I remove and reinstate it in five minutes probably nobody cares (it wouldn't be the same DB entry however). On the other hand if the time period is a month probably everyone cares, especially if it's something that shouldn't have been omitted in the first place.

If I go by UID and it is moved across the site is it still the same element by UID alone, no.

Like humans you need:

Location, date of birth, time of death, social security id (for fast ref). Governments have been tracking their citizens and other resources this way quite well (since Domesday Book). Tracking so few elements in a Revit model this way seems trivial in comparison. 

[jeremy_tammik]

I love your perspective, both realistic and bird's-eye view!

[RPTHOMAS108]

Thanks Jeremy I’ve spent much time considering these things and a similar amount of time numbering things to identify them.

[GallowayUS_com_RonAllen1]

@jeremytammik I was hoping you had the inside scoop! : ) for a back-end to how 360 Compare works  so we could borrow from it - unless it is already implemented in the API... Wouldn' t be a bit surprised it it was the methods you implemented in your code below.

We have the previous versions compare in 360 - I was hoping AutoDesk added something to the API in Revit to facilitate this, but now I am beginning to wonder if they implemented a changes database (like the journal for central files) to track those changes.

Hopefully it isn't a brute force compare with previous versions!

[jeremy_tammik]

I am pretty certain that nothing has been added to Revit in order to enable this.

I would assume that the BIM360 guys use the same tools that are available to you, i.e., the Revit API, to implement whatever they do.