Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms

BACnet MVD

# Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms

For the purpose of this document, the following definitions apply.

## 3.1 Terms and definitions

3.1.1 actor
  person, an organization, or person acting on behalf of an organization
  NOTE A specialization of the general term object.
3.1.2 attribute
  unit of information within an entity, defined by a particular type or reference to a particular entity
  NOTE There are three kinds of attributes: direct attributes, inverse attributes and derived attributes.
  3.1.2.1 direct attribute
    scalar values or collections including Set (unordered, unique), List (ordered), or Array (ordered, sparse) as defined in [ISO 10303-11]
    NOTE Similar to the term "field" in common programming languages.
  3.1.2.2 inverse attribute
    unit of information defining queries for obtaining related data and enforcing referential integrity
    NOTE Similar to the term "navigation property" in entity-relational programming frameworks.
  3.1.2.3 derived attribute
    unit of information computed from other attributes using an expression defined in the schema
  3.1.2.4 constraints on attributes
    data type restricting the values of attributes
    NOTE The most general constraint is about the existence of attribute values. There are basically two types: mandatory and optional attributes. Values of mandatory attributes must be provided whereas values of optional attributes may be omitted.
    NOTE For aggregation data types such as Set, List, or Array, the existence constraint is often refined by a minimal and maximal number of elements, which is also known as cardinality.
3.1.3 classification
  categorization, the act of distributing things into classes or categories of the same type
3.1.4 constraint
  restriction for a specified reason
  NOTE A specialization of the general term control.
3.1.5 control
  directive to meet specified requirements such as for scope, time, or cost
  NOTE A specialization of the general term object.
3.1.6 dictionary
  collection of words, terms or concepts, with their definition
3.1.7 element
  tangible physical product that can be described by its shape representation, material representations, and other properties
  NOTE A specialization of the general term product.
  3.1.7.1 element occurrence
    element's position within the project coordinate system and its containment within the spatial structure
3.1.8 entity
  class of information defined by common attributes and constraints as defined in [ISO 10303-11]
  NOTE Similar to the term "class" in common programming languages but describing data structure only (not behavior such as methods).
3.1.9 external reference
  link to information outside the data set, with direct relevance to the specific information the link originates from inside the data set
3.1.10 feature
  parametric information and additional property information modifiying the shape representation of an element to which it applies
3.1.11 group
  collection of information that fulfills a specified purpose
  NOTE A specialization of the general term object.
3.1.12 identification
  capability to find, retrieve, report, change, or delete specific instances without ambiguity
3.1.13 instance
  occurrence of an entity
  NOTE Similar to the term "instance of a class" in object oriented programming.
3.1.14 library
  catalogue, database or holder of data, that is relevant to information in the data set
  NOTE It is information referenced from an external source that is not copied into the data set.
3.1.15 model
  a data set, governed by the structure of an underlying schema, to meet certain data requirements
  NOTE Information models and building information models are examples for a model. NOTE In scope of this standard IFC models are populations of the IFC schema.
3.1.16 model view
  subset of a schema, representing the data structure required to fullfil the data requirements within one or several exchange scenarios
  NOTE Beside being a subset of a schema, a model view (or model view definition) may also impose additional constraints to the population of the subset schema
  3.1.16.1 concept
    rules on using a subset of the schema structure identified as a concept template to enable a certain functionality within the context of a concept root contained in a model view
    NOTE The utilization of material definitions for a paticular concept root representing a wall is an example of a concept.
  3.1.16.2 concept template
    the specification of a subset of the schema structure to enable a certain unit of functionality
    NOTE The identification of the entities, attributes and constraints needed to express a material definition independently on how it is utilized later in the context of a wall is an example of a concept template.
  3.1.16.3 concept root
    an entity of a schema used to assign concepts to describe the required functionality
    NOTE A root concept often describes a model element, such as wall, air outlet, construction task, or similar, that is the root of a graph of connected entities and attributes defining the specific information items required, such as geometry, material, breakdown structure, etc.
3.1.17 object
  anything perceivable or conceivable that has a distinct existence, albeit not material
  3.1.17.1 object occurrence
    characteristics of an object as an individual
    NOTE Similar to "object", "instance", "individual" in other publications.
  3.1.17.2 object type
    common characteristics shared by multiple object-occurrences
    NOTE Similar to "class", "template", "type" in other publications.
3.1.18 process
  object-occurrence located in time, indicating "when"
3.1.19 product
  physical or conceptual object that occurs in space
  NOTE It is specialization of the general term object.
3.1.20 project
  encapsulation of related information for a particular purpose providing context for information contained within
  NOTE Context information may include default measurement units or representation context and precision.
3.1.21 property
  unit of information that is dynamically defined as a particular entity instance
  NOTE Similar to "late-bound" or "run-time" in programming terminology.
  3.1.21.1 property occurrence
    unit of information providing a value for a property identified by name
  3.1.21.2 property template
    metadata for a property including name, description, and data type
    NOTE Similar in concept to "extension property" in common programming languages.
  3.1.21.3 property set occurrence
    unit of information containing a set of property occurrences, each having a unique name within the property set
  3.1.21.4 property set template
    set of property templates serving a common purpose and having applicability to objects of a particular entity
    NOTE Similar in concept to "extension class" in common programming languages.
3.1.22 proxy
  object that does not hold a specific object type information
  NOTE a specialization of object occurrence.
3.1.23 quantity
  measurement of a scope-based metric, specifically length, area, volume, weight, count, or time
3.1.24 relationship
  unit of information describing an interaction between items
3.1.25 representation
  unit of information describing how an object is displayed, such as physical shape or topology
3.1.26 resource
  entity with limited availability such as materials, labor, or equipment
  NOTE a specialization of the general term object.
  NOTE the "resource definition data schemas" section is unrelated to this concept.
3.1.27 schema
  the definition of the structure to organize data for storage, exchange and sharing, using a formal language
  NOTE The formal languages EXPRESS [ISO 10303-11] and XML Schema [W3C Recommendation] are currently used to define the schemata of this standard
3.1.28 space
  area or volume bounded actually or theoretically
  NOTE a specialization of the general term product.
3.1.29 type
  basic information construct derived from a primitive, an enumeration, or a select of entities
  NOTE Similar to the "Type" construct as defined in [ISO 10303-11].
  NOTE Similar in concept to "typedef" or "value type" in common programming languages.
  3.1.29.1 select
    construct that allows an attribute value to be one of multiple types or entities
    NOTE Similar to the "Select" construct as defined in [ISO 10303-11].
    NOTE Similar to a "marker interface" in common programming languages.
  3.1.29.2 enumeration
    construct that allows an attribute value to be one of multiple predefined values identified by name
    NOTE Similar to the "Enumeration" construct as defined in [ISO 10303-11].
    NOTE Similar in concept to "enum" in common programming languages.

## 3.2 Abbreviated terms

AEC | Architecture, Engineering, and Construction
AEC-FM | Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management
BIM | Building Information Modeling
GUID | Globally Unique Identifier
IFC | Industry Foundation Classes
IFD | International Framework for Dictionaries
MVD | Model View Definition
SPF | STEP Physical File
STEP | STandard for the Exchange of Product data
URI | Uniform Resource Identifier
UUID | Universally Unique Identifier
XML | Extensible Markup Language

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