ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the prospects of building information model (BIM) and big data in quantity surveying (QS). A clear trend is that BIM is increasingly migrating from traditional local personal computer basis to become cloud BIM. Cloud-based BIM serves more than just design phase 3D modelling and visualisation. Mell and Grance classify cloud computing as Enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. BIM provides a powerful way to harness the computational power to allow more precise cost planning in the design stage. With the advancement of BIM technologies and big data, a computational BIM can be expected to provide real-time quantity information for designers and contractors to make more informed decisions. Computational BIM has several advantages, of which the first one is that it enables exploring multiple design options with cost implications.
