📃 Power BI for BIM Professionals - Part 4 - Introduction to VIM Data Model
🧠 Understanding the Power BI Data Model for Revit + VIM
Let’s break down the core of VIM’s BIM data model and explore how all the tables connect inside Power BI. Whether you're an architect, BIM manager, or data enthusiast, this video gives you the foundation to understand how your building data works—and what to do with it.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Intro – The element table is the heart of the schema
00:13 Everything in Revit (physical + conceptual) is in the element table
00:28 Families, types, instances, and embedded elements
01:08 Element hierarchy for parent-child selections
01:18 Geometry table: triangles, surfaces, bounding box, Z location
01:50 Materials in elements: area, volume per material
02:03 Systems, warnings, and compound structures
02:41 Material node (detailed attributes like smoothness, transparency)
03:09 Groups + contained elements
03:19 Phase table: list of project phases
03:31 BIM document vs. VIM document (file metadata and source tracking)
04:30 Units table – for metric/imperial and label types
04:46 Category table – filter stairs, doors, annotations, etc.
05:06 Face filter data and where to find it
05:12 Instance vs. element: how rooms and levels are split
06:15 Instance Workset and level filtering
06:31 Instance level references: merging level references into one column
06:59 Next steps: choose your learning path
07:25 Dashboard-building vs. advanced table use
07:42 Outro
📚 What You’ll Learn
1️⃣ The structure of the VIM-powered BIM data model
2️⃣ Why the element table is central—and what branches off of it
3️⃣ Where to find geometry, material, room, and Workset data
4️⃣ How instance and element tables differ in practical use
5️⃣ Two suggested learning paths: model exploration or dashboard building
🌐 Get started: https://vimaec.com
👍 Like • 🔔 Subscribe for more BIM + Power BI tutorials
💬 Got a favorite Power BI table you love to work with? Tell us in the comments!