Review: reconstruction of 3D building information models from 2D scanned plans

• Need for cost-effective approaches to assist 3D modelling from existing buildings.
• No solution has been found to reconstruct complete, automatic 3D model from 2D plans.
• Lack of information such as third dimension requires the use of others sources.
• A single format could help to rise challenge about data exchange between processes.

3D digital modeling, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and numerical simulation are widely recognized as essential components of building design support tools, but require a significant amount of digital data to truly achieve their potential. Currently, they are mostly applied in the design and construction of new buildings but rarely in renovation projects, since few digital data are available for the majority of existing buildings. It is therefore urgent to devise reliable and effective approaches to the generation of 3D digital (BIM) models of existing buildings. This recognition is widely shared and has resulted in a substantial amount of research work and significant innovations in various fields: 3D laser scanning, images processing, etc. With the aim of bringing some significant contribution to this state-of-the-art, this paper provides a critical review of the methods and tools for generating 3D building models from 2D drawings, developing along two complementary lines: a wide-spectrum assessment of 3D generation techniques, and a more focused, in-depth review of 2D drawings-based approaches (from image processing to BIM creation and validation). The review follows a well-defined methodology and builds on the work of more than 100 relevant references. It includes substantial discussions to highlight the strengths, weaknesses and preferential applications of the reviewed research works, and provides a research agenda. The study particularly highlights that the state-of-the-art is fragmented: most research works focus on specific, limited steps of the 3D models generation process, but no solution has yet been able to tackle the whole generation chain. An additional conclusion is that the selection of the most effective approach largely depends on the intended application, and on project-specific constraints. Also, the study highlights that significant benefits could be drawn from combining existing approaches.