Background:
AEC was formulated to enhance the entire process of development of design information, its management and control. Initially, its main focus was on CAD layering settlements, but gradually with the technological development in the design sector, AEC expanded its horizons to shelter the other characteristics of design information development and communication. And that’s when LoD Came into existence.
What is LOD?
The Level of Development (LOD) Specification is an orientation which allows the users in the AEC Industry to specify and illustrates the reliability and consistency of Building Information Models (BIMs) at different stages of the design and construction process.
This robust specification allows the design model creators to outline exactly on what base their models can be relied on for, and also assists the users to clearly understand the usage of the design models they demanded along with its limitations.
LoD comes with six developmental levels to determine the details required in a BIM model. Further the BIM customizes those levels as per the construction and building traders specifications, in terms of different components like Electrical, plumbing, roofing or basements, etc. Below mentioned is a brief overview of these six developmental levels:
- LoD 100:
Give a generic explanation of the existence of the building elements, excluding their shape, size, or location.
- LoD 200:
Specifies the approximate quantity, size, dimensions, location, or positioning of the building elements.
- LOD 300:
Unlike Lod 200, LoD specifies the size, shape, location, orientation, and quantity of the elements.
- LOD 350:
Give a brief overview of the definite element and its relation and interconnection with other components.
- LOD 400
Give a detailed explanation of the elements based on their disclaimers in the model.
- LoD 500:
Provides all the post-construction information to the clients for instance: Model number, manufacturer, Date of Purchase, etc.
Why LoD?
Since the users cannot fully trust and easily rely on 3D modeling and BIM results, Therefore LoD with an added feature of numerical Lexicon helps the creators and recipients, overcome this reliability problem. This added feature assists the users to digitally observe, evaluate and note the maturity level of the different components in a model. The maturity level of the elements triggers the mechanism to begin their work.