COBie is an acronym for "Construction Operations Building information exchange".
Its purpose is to exchange information that is gathered during construction to be passed on to a building's facility manager. COBie defines the way this information is structured, and the formats that can be used.
COBie only includes MANAGED ASSETS.
It does not, and it not meant to, include data on building fabric (like walls) or any geometric information beyond nominal sizes.
Typically COBie includes doors, windows, equipment, fittings, fixtures and furniture.
Services are also included and are defined by systems (e.g. a mechnaical system of A/C unit, ducts and outlets) and components within those systems. Architects must NOT provide COBie services data - it must come from the engineers or sub-contractors responsible.
The idea behind COBie is that data is completed by each responsible party then combined into a multi-sheet spreadsheet document. The party responsible for organizing COBie is NOT responsible for providing all the information. They are responsible for coordinating data, and possibly checking that it complies with COBie (but not checking data is accurate).
COBie is managed by the buildingSMARTalliance, a council of National Institute of Building Science (US). A description of US COBie can be found at the wbdg.org web site.
There is also a UK version called COBie UK 2012. For a broader discussion refer to this NBS article.
COBie Resources
Official US COBie web site:
http://www.nibs.org/?page=bsa_cobie
UK COBie web site and resources:
http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/cobie/
Youtube lessons:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=COBie-Class
Linkedin discussion group for COBie:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2638637.
It is moderated by Bill East, the COBie man so is the best place to ask questions.
COBie software and toolkits:
Autodesk Revit COBie toolkit:
http://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/interoperability
Free COBie Revit add-in that links to Ecodomus web app.
Free on line COBie 2 validator.
Solibri Model Checker. Has Addin for checking COBie compliance.
2013-01-10-UsingGoogleDocsForCOBie.pdf
Description of how to use Google Docs (now called Google Drive) spreadsheets for COBie. Using Google Drive means you effectively have a free web service accessible by multiple parties.
buildingSMART alliance information exchanges: Means and Methods
buildingSMART alliance suggestions.
What is COBie?