SHANGHAI Jiao Tong University has developed an application that can integrate all construction information about buildings, railway networks and underground pipelines for more efficient and convenient management, the university said yesterday.

The application, which uses the Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, can show three-dimensional images of facilities, enabling people to easily understand their structures.

“Our NMBIM 2.0 application is just like an X-ray scanner and can present complete information of a structure,” said Deng Xueyuan, director of the university’s BIM research center.

“With our application, you will see 3D models of walls, holes and original wire lines, rather than complicated flat drawings, when decorating a second-hand apartment, and you don’t have to be a professional architect. “Within a building, you can see the best escape route when a fire breaks out. In a city, you can find out the shortest way to your destination by just a click.”

He said that the app could resolve obstacles between design, construction and operation departments as staff in those sections often used different applications so that their information could not be used directly by others.

The NMBIM 2.0 app can integrate all their information in the same platform and people involved in building projects can communicate on it directly.

Deng said many domestic applications could not connect with international applications, but the university’s invention could “translate” information into a format that could be accepted internationally.