ifc2duckdb

Convert IFC files to DuckDB format for fast analysis and querying of Building Information Modeling (BIM) data.

Features

• Fast Conversion: Convert IFC files to DuckDB format for high-performance querying
• Full Schema Support: Create complete IFC schema tables or only those present in the file
• Geometry Support: Extract and store 3D geometry data with materials
• Property Sets: Include IFC property set data
• Inverse Relationships: Store entity relationships for complex queries
• Command Line Interface: Easy-to-use CLI for batch processing
• Python API: Programmatic access for integration into larger workflows

Installation

From PyPI (recommended)

pip install ifc2duckdb

From source

git clone https://github.com/chuongmep/ifc-2-duckdb.git
cd ifc-2-duckdb
pip install -e .

Development installation

git clone https://github.com/chuongmep/ifc-2-duckdb.git
cd ifc-2-duckdb
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• ifcopenshell >= 1.0.0
• duckdb >= 0.7.0
• numpy >= 1.20.0
• ifcpatch >= 0.1.0

Quick Start

Command Line Usage

# Basic conversion
ifc2duckdb input.ifc output.duckdb

# With options
ifc2duckdb input.ifc --database output.duckdb --no-geometry --verbose

# Help
ifc2duckdb --help

Python API Usage

import ifc2duckdb
import ifcopenshell

# Open IFC file
ifc_file = ifcopenshell.open("racbasicsampleproject.ifc")

# Create patcher with default settings
patcher = ifc2duckdb.Patcher(
    ifc_file,
    database="output.duckdb"
)

# Convert to DuckDB
patcher.patch()

# Get output path
output_path = patcher.get_output()
print(f"Database created at: {output_path}")

Advanced Usage

import ifc2duckdb
import ifcopenshell

# Open IFC file
ifc_file = ifcopenshell.open("racbasicsampleproject.ifc")

# Create patcher with custom settings
patcher = ifc2duckdb.Patcher(
    ifc_file,
    database="output.duckdb",
    full_schema=False,           # Only create tables for classes in the file
    is_strict=True,              # Strict data type validation
    should_expand=True,          # Expand entity lists into separate rows
    should_get_inverses=True,    # Include inverse relationships
    should_get_psets=True,       # Include property set data
    should_get_geometry=True,    # Include geometry data
    should_skip_geometry_data=False  # Include geometry for representation tables
)

# Convert to DuckDB
patcher.patch()

Database Schema

The converted DuckDB database contains several types of tables:

Core Tables

• id_map: Maps IFC entity IDs to their class names
• metadata: Contains IFC file metadata (schema, preprocessor info)

IFC Entity Tables

• One table per IFC class (e.g., IfcWall, IfcDoor, IfcWindow)
• Each table contains all attributes of the IFC entity
• Primary key is ifc_id (the IFC entity ID)

Geometry Tables

• shape: Contains placement and transformation data
• geometry: Contains mesh data (vertices, edges, faces, materials)

Property Set Tables

• psets: Contains property set data in key-value format

Querying Examples

-- Find all walls
SELECT * FROM "IfcWall";

-- Find walls with specific properties
SELECT w.*, p.name, p.value 
FROM "IfcWall" w
JOIN psets p ON w.ifc_id = p.ifc_id
WHERE p.pset_name = 'Pset_WallCommon';

-- Get geometry for all elements
SELECT s.*, g.verts, g.faces
FROM shape s
JOIN geometry g ON s.geometry = g.id;

-- Find elements by material
SELECT s.ifc_id, g.materials
FROM shape s
JOIN geometry g ON s.geometry = g.id
WHERE g.materials LIKE '%concrete%';

Development

Running Tests

# Run all tests
pytest

# Run with coverage
pytest --cov=ifc2duckdb --cov-report=html

# Run specific test file
pytest tests/test_patcher.py

Code Formatting

# Format code
black ifc2duckdb tests
isort ifc2duckdb tests

# Check formatting
black --check ifc2duckdb tests
isort --check-only ifc2duckdb tests

Type Checking

mypy ifc2duckdb --ignore-missing-imports

Linting

flake8 ifc2duckdb tests

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests and linting (make test lint)
5. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
6. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
7. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 or later (LGPL-3.0-or-later) - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Based on the Ifc2Sql recipe from IfcOpenShell
• Inspired by the XbimEssentials project
• Built on top of IfcOpenShell and DuckDB

References

• IfcOpenShell Documentation
• IfcPatch Documentation
• DuckDB Documentation
• OSArch Community Discussion
• DuckDB Cloud Storage