建筑这个行业和它从业人员每天都在产生和使用大量的数据，设计，施工，运营。Daniel Davis 在AECMAGAZINE的文章简述了这个观点。
Architecture is fundamentally about data. At the foundation of every BIM model lies data. Architects and engineers work to orchestrate data — creating it, modifying it, using it in simulations. Contractors take data and turn it into physical spaces, while building operators are increasingly managing buildings using data from architects and from building sensors. Data underlies much of the modern AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Owner-operated) industry and we are only destined to produce more of it.
然而问题的重点在于这些数据是否被有效地利用，数据产生的过程是否是一个连续的过程。让我印象深刻的是，设计人员在无休止地出方案，画图，建模，新方案，画图。。。直到Deadline。往往一个新的方案，哪怕是一点点修改，都意味着之前的努力将被白费。建筑师将方案交予工程师时，工程师又开始了画图，建模，计算的过程。