3. Interoperability Challenges. Exploring Trends, Patterns, Practices and Possible Futures for Enhanced Collaboration and Efficiency in the AEC Industry

The AEC industry faces significant challenges in software development, including reusability, scalability, and interoperability issues stemming from its diverse and segregated nature. Multiple domains and subdomains within the industry create coordination difficulties when striving for a unified design. Existing software solutions inherit these challenges, often relying on individual products and plug-ins built on proprietary software. These solutions lack interface and interoperability, necessitating users to comprehend different underlying assumptions. Furthermore, limited accessibility to code bases hampers collaboration for non-authors due to suboptimal software engineering practices. Open-source solutions like BHoM and Speckle offer promising approaches to enhance interoperability by enabling data interchange and concept mapping between domain-specific vocabularies. However, their widespread adoption and scalability rely on industry-wide acceptance. This chapter provides an overview of software development approaches in the AEC industry, focusing on recent open-source interoperability solutions. It examines knowledge representation, design patterns, trends, and practices, while discussing potential strategies for addressing software engineering challenges in the AEC industry.