Overview
ISO 16757-1:2015 defines the concepts, architecture and meta‑model for electronic product catalogues for building services. Its primary purpose is to provide standardized data structures so product data from manufacturers can be transmitted automatically into building services software (CAD, CAE, BIM, calculation and simulation tools). The part establishes a generic modelling framework for product classes, properties and relationships and a framework for the Content Parts that define product‑group specific models.
Keywords: ISO 16757-1, electronic product catalogues, building services, data structures, meta model, BIM, product data exchange.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Meta‑models for product classes and product data: defines modelling elements and relationships required to describe building services products consistently.
- Selection properties and hierarchy: resources for defining selection properties and a selection property tree to guide parametric product selection.
- Dependent and computable properties: mechanisms to specify properties whose values are computed from installation or context parameters (with later parts specifying script language).
- Composition and accessory relationships: modelling of bill‑of‑materials, accessories and composed products.
- Parametric geometry representation: support for parametric Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) elements typical for building services (detailed geometry in ISO 16757‑2).
- Data model and implementation guidance: requirements for properties (technical and content perspectives), selection property hierarchy, technical properties and rules to embed selected product data into a BIM.
- Framework for Content Parts: this part describes the elements required from Content Parts that will define concrete models for specific product groups.
What is explicitly out of scope here: detailed geometric primitives (ISO 16757‑2), the script language (ISO 16757‑3), the XML exchange schema (ISO 16757‑5), and buildingSMART mapping details (ISO 16757‑4).
Practical applications and who uses it
ISO 16757-1 enables:
- Manufacturers to publish parametric product catalogues that integrate with industry software.
- BIM and MEP software vendors to import consistent technical, geometric and descriptive product data for design, calculation and simulation.
- Consulting engineers and MEP designers to perform cross‑manufacturer selection, simulation and system performance analysis without manual re‑entry.
- Facility managers and lifecycle managers to retain structured product information for operation and maintenance.
Benefits include reduced data translation costs, continuous planning across manufacturers, automated calculations/simulations, and improved BIM interoperability.
Related standards
- Other parts of ISO 16757 series (Parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and Content Parts for product groups)
- ISO 13584 and ISO 12006‑3 (dictionary/terminology standards)
- buildingSMART / IFC and IFD mappings (addressed in ISO 16757‑4)
This standard is essential for anyone implementing or using electronic product catalogues for building services and seeking interoperable, parametric product data for BIM and engineering workflows.
Open preview (PDF)Data structures for electronic product catalogues for building services — Part 1: Concepts, architecture and model