BIMin

BIMin is a lightweight data format and accompanying toolkit designed for simplified exchange and storage of building information modeling (BIM) content. Developed to address performance and interoperability challenges associated with large, richly detailed BIM files, BIMin emphasizes compact representation, partial model loading, and ease of parsing by web and mobile applications.

The format typically represents geometry, metadata, and hierarchy in a structured, schema-driven form that can be serialized in JSON or binary encodings. Core features often include object-level referencing, delta updates for versioning, optional geometry simplification, and standardized property sets to preserve semantic information. Tooling around BIMin commonly provides import/export converters, viewers, and APIs for change tracking and synchronization with common BIM platforms.

Intended use cases include model visualization in browsers and mobile devices, collaborative review workflows, and data exchange between design, construction, and facility management systems where full fidelity IFC or native models are unnecessary. BIMin implementations aim to balance size and fidelity to support fast network transfer and responsive interaction while retaining enough semantic information for downstream tasks.

Limitations of the approach include potential loss of fine geometric or parametric detail when using aggressive simplification or compression, and dependency on reliable converters to maintain semantic consistency with established BIM formats. Adoption depends on ecosystem support and integration with existing BIM standards and tools.