{"id":2005,"date":"2024-05-02T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalbbq.au\/?p=2005"},"modified":"2024-04-28T08:27:47","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T22:27:47","slug":"extracting-ifc-metadata-directly-in-power-bi-using-power-query","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalbbq.au\/index.php\/2024\/05\/02\/extracting-ifc-metadata-directly-in-power-bi-using-power-query\/","title":{"rendered":"Extracting IFC Metadata Directly in Power BI Using Power Query"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you work with Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files and want an easy way to access and analyze the metadata, there’s a great article you should check out. “How to extract data from IFC files” by Matthew Osment<\/a> on Medium demonstrates how to use Power Query in Power BI to directly extract metadata from an IFC file. Matthew also provides the full Power M Query and an example PowerBI file on GitHub<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IFC files, an open standard file format, are widely used in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry for interoperability between various engineering tools and is also a common format ingested into digital twin platforms. Ensuring that your IFC files contain accurate metadata is important not only for conveying the correct information to project stakeholders during collaboration but also for providing valuable insights for analysis and decision-making. It is also critical for the handover process to the building owner and operator, enabling efficient facility management and maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article walks you through the process of using Power Query, a powerful data transformation and preparation tool built into Power BI. With just a few clicks, you can open an IFC file directly in Power BI and see the metadata. The author provides step-by-step instructions and screenshots to guide you through the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you have the metadata in Power BI, you can easily explore and visualise it using the various built-in features. You can create charts, tables, and dashboards to gain insights and share them with others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you work with Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files and want an easy way to access and analyze the metadata, there’s a great article you should check out. “How to extract data from IFC files” by Matthew Osment on Medium demonstrates how to use Power Query in Power BI to directly extract metadata from an IFC file. Matthew also provides…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Extracting IFC metadata directly in Power BI using Power Query. \ud83d\udee0\ufe0f\ud83d\udcca Visualise and validate your IFC data without the need for specialised software! #IFC #PowerBI #PowerQuery #AEC #DigitalTwin","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[77,73],"class_list":["post-2005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","tag-automation","tag-process"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2018,"url":"https:\/\/digitalbbq.au\/index.php\/2024\/05\/16\/expanding-on-ifc-metadata-extraction-in-powerbi\/","url_meta":{"origin":2005,"position":0},"title":"Expanding on IFC Metadata Extraction in PowerBI","author":"Ryan Lenihan","date":"16 May 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"In a previous post, \"Extracting IFC Metadata Directly in Power BI Using Power Query,\" we explored how to use Power Query in PowerBI to directly extract metadata from IFC files using a Power Query shared by Shift Construction. If you haven't read that post, I recommend checking it out first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital"","block_context":{"text":"Digital","link":"https:\/\/digitalbbq.au\/index.php\/category\/digital\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Currency exchange data graph and charts data","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digitalbbq.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/currency-exchange-data-graph-and-charts-data.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digitalbbq.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/currency-exchange-data-graph-and-charts-data.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digitalbbq.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/currency-exchange-data-graph-and-charts-data.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digitalbbq.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/currency-exchange-data-graph-and-charts-data.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digitalbbq.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/currency-exchange-data-graph-and-charts-data.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digitalbbq.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/currency-exchange-data-graph-and-charts-data.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2400,"url":"https:\/\/digitalbbq.au\/index.php\/2025\/09\/04\/optimising-ifc-files-in-python\/","url_meta":{"origin":2005,"position":1},"title":"Optimising IFC Files in Python","author":"Ryan Lenihan","date":"4 September 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across a Python-based IFC optimiser built on top of IfcOpenShell. It was solid, removing unused spaces, orphaned entities, and redundant metadata, but I saw room to push it further. 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Here’s Why (And How to Fix It)","author":"Ryan Lenihan","date":"17 July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"You\u2019ve exported your model to IFC. Pipes look great. Fittings? Grey. Again. What\u2019s going on? This one trips up a lot of teams, because pipe fittings in Revit don\u2019t actually carry system data, even though they look like they do. So when you rely on system-assigned materials for your IFC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "How to guides"","block_context":{"text":"How to guides","link":"https:\/\/digitalbbq.au\/index.php\/category\/how-to-guides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Set of blue PVC pipe fittings isolated on dark background. Blue plastic water pipe. 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Not So Fast.","author":"Ryan Lenihan","date":"16 July 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days after the last post, I got handed a model that seemed like it should have worked perfectly. The nested families were already set up as Shared. The IFC export was running. The geometry was coming through. But the asset data? Completely missing. 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