[BLDG-SIM] GeoPraxis Announces XML Schema for Building Energy and Environmental Performance Analysis

[Tom Conlon]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Tom Conlon, Principal
GeoPraxis, Inc.
Phone: 707-996-9408
Fax: 707-939-8702
gbXML at geopraxis.com


May 2, 2000

GeoPraxis Announces XML Schema for Building Energy and Environmental
Performance Analysis
------------------------------------------

SONOMA, Calif., May 2, 2000 / -- Today pioneering energy analysis solutions
provider GeoPraxis, Inc. announced the publication of an open XML schema
that will greatly facilitate the analysis of building energy and
environmental performance.  Soon architects, engineers, and others who
design and build buildings in CAD will be able to predict how much energy
their buildings will use and how much pollution they will produce with
drag-and-drop simplicity.

The new schema, Green Building XML (gbXML), will greatly simplify and
popularize the use of powerful but traditionally hard to use building energy
simulation software.  Presently this type of software is only used for
research or on the largest construction projects that can afford to hire
specially trained engineers.

The gbXML schema will facilitate the transfer of building information
including product characteristics and equipment performance data between
manufacturer’s databases, CAD applications, and energy simulation engines.
Improved data interoperability between the tools currently used in the
architecture, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) industry will greatly
reduce the time and cost of designing high performance, energy and resource
efficient buildings.

John Kennedy, head of software development at GeoPraxis, made the
announcement.  “After six months of dedicated effort by our simulation tool
development team, the preliminary gbXML specification is now ready for
industry review and comment.  GeoPraxis is actively seeking cooperation with
other interested parties before submission to BizTalk.Org and XML.Org later
this month.  The next generation of gbXML-enabled CAD tools will allow
architects to estimate energy consumption and associated environmental
impacts as soon as their schematic designs are entered into CAD.  Engineers,
Construction Managers, and other design team members see the benefits too
since they will be able to refine the CAD files and re-perform the analyses
without having to re-enter the data into another program.”

Kennedy added, “For building product manufacturers, CAD software vendors,
and A/E/C project extranets, the best news in this announcement is that this
schema is much more than a simple template to guide future schema and tool
development.  In fact, the schema has already been integrated into the
powerful IDEA Server(TM) web-based energy analysis application that is
available right now.  And the benefits of the schema will be available to
the users of the popular 3D CAD modeling software DesignWorkshop(R) by the
end of the year.”

Kennedy said he expects the schema will ultimately be adopted by the
International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), the organization that has
been advocating data interoperability in the A/E/C industry for the past six
years.  The long elusive goal of interoperability received a big boost when
Bentley announced the publication of their aecXML standard last fall.  Since
then, GeoPraxis has been closely following aecXML developments.

“Our focus groups and survey of over 400 A/E/C 3D CAD users have confirmed
there is great demand for energy analysis tools that are easier to use than
what is currently available”, said Marketing Director Tom Conlon.  “Almost
all the architects we have spoken with are excited about the advanced
capabilities this new technology will bring them.  No one wants to become an
energy expert if they don’t have to, and no one has time to re-enter data or
spend hours researching the properties of green building materials.”  Conlon
says that manufacturers who make information about their high performance
products compatible with the schema will be giving CAD users the easiest way
possible to evaluate their products.

President of Artifice, Inc. Kevin Matthews observed, "The new Green Building
schema provides a real advance in CAD integration, for all the right
reasons.  We will be supporting gbXML aggressively in our DesignWorkshop(R)
Professional architectural modeling, rendering, and walkthrough software."

"Using the gbXML schema, we can efficiently provide a new range of AEC
design and analysis capabilities.  From our consumer-level web-based
building design tools, to the high-level business and enterprise-level
energy simulation solutions we are creating with GeoPraxis, this schema is
the key to unlocking the power of the Internet for improved environmental
performance."

=============================
About XML.
Extensible Markup Language, or XML, is a meta-markup language that provides
a universal data format for describing structured information.  The
"extensibility" of the XML language makes it a very powerful business tool
for communicating and collaborating on the Internet. By developing and
implementing an "XML schema" or relational vocabulary specific to AEC
projects, organizations using the same schema could use their existing
software applications to send, receive, access and retrieve virtually any
type of project document or transactional data. It also gives AEC firms a
much more efficient and effective way for taking advantage of
e-collaboration and e-commerce opportunities, such as coordinating and
synchronizing related project information with clients as well as doing
business with suppliers and purchasers of equipment, materials, supplies,
parts and services.

=============================
About GeoPraxis.
GeoPraxis, Inc. combines its expertise in energy engineering, market
research, and software development to meet the rigorous research and
development needs of some of the most sophisticated resource companies,
research organizations, and policy-making bodies in the world.
GeoPraxis is all about putting the best ideas to work for the most effective
use of limited resources.  In Greek "Geo" means Earth and "Praxis" means
Action, the exercise of an art, science, skill, or practice.  At GeoPraxis,
our work enables people and organizations across the planet to better
understand and manage their resource use.  Understanding how we use
resources is the first step to taking control and managing their associated
costs and risks.

For information on how to view and comment on the schema, visit
http://www.geopraxis.com/


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