Vacancy Software developer or Research position (postdoc or senior researcher)

Digitalisation of Building Permit Checks by GeoBIM approaches

In the recently awarded Horizon Europe project CHEK (CHANGE TOOLKIT FOR DIGITAL BUILDING PERMIT (DBP)), 19 partners across Europe will develop an innovative kit of both methodological and technical tools to digitise building permitting and automated compliance checks for new building designs as well as for renovations in European urban areas. The CHEK consortium consists of a multidisciplinary team covering GIS, BIM, municipal processes and planning, data integration and standardisation and is a multisectoral mix of research & education, AEC- and software-companies, governmental institutions, and international standardisation organisations (OGC and BuildingSmart). To perform our tasks in this project, the 3D Geoinformation research group, Section Urban Data Science has two open positions for 1-3 years that build on our previous GeoBIM work and on our DBP related activities.

Apart from coordination and dissemination of the project results, our research group is responsible for the development of:

• validators for BIM (IFC) and 3D GIS data (CityJSON/CityGML).
• a georeferencer for BIM data.
• a BIM to Geo converter.
• a technical-scientific course on digital building permit checking.

We are also involved in the following tasks:

• Interpretation and formalisation of regulations and encoding them into a machine-readable format.
• Definition of the level of information need for rule checking and model preparation.
• Representation of required design information according to OpenBIM and open geospatial standards.
• Development of a Geo to BIM converter. To support these tasks, we are looking for two candidates who can be either a first stage (postdoc) researcher, a recognised researcher, or a scientific developer.

Here you can find a few links to earlier related work done in our group:

• European Network for Digital Building Permits

• IFC/CityGML/I3S

• GeoBIM for Building Permit in Rotterdam

• GeoBIM benchmark

• GeoBIM: Bridging the gap between Geo and BIM Project with Technical University of Eindhoven and several partners in The Netherlands. This work has been published in this article (including georeferencing of BIM models)

• IFC in practice: an inspection of practitioners’ models Francesca Noardo, Ken Arroyo Ohori, Thomas Krijnen and Jantien Stoter. Applied Science 11(5), March 2021. ISSN: 2076–3417.

• IFC models for semi-automating common planning checks for building permits Francesca Noardo, Teng Wu, Ken Arroyo Ohori, Thomas Krijnen and Jantien Stoter. Automation in Construction 134, 2022, pp. 104097.

• Unveiling the actual progress of digital building permit: getting awareness through a critical state of the art review. Francesca Noardo, Dogus Guler, Judith Fauth, Giada Malacarne, Silvia Mastrolembo Ventura, Miguel Azenha, Per-Ola Olsson and Lennart Senger. Preprint in Preprints, 2021.

• Val3dity: Software to validate 3D primitives according to the international standard ISO19107.

Research group

The positions are embedded in the 3D Geoinformation research group, Section Urban Data Science, part of the Delft University of Technology The group focuses on the technologies underpinning geographical information systems (GIS), and aims at designing, developing, and implementing better systems to model 3D cities, buildings and landscapes. It is a multidisciplinary group of around 25 people, including computer scientists, geomatics engineers, and geographers; 5 of them are tenured staff (1 professor, 1 associate-professor, and 3 assistant-professors). It has a history of successful collaborations with the industry and the government: its research has led to open source software, standards, 3D open data and patents for the management of 3D geographic information and Building Information Models.

Job requirements

Applicants should hold an MSc (for early stage researcher; software developer) or a PhD degree (for senior researcher) in geoinformatics/geomatics, computer science, applied mathematics, or in a related discipline. Applicants are expected to have good programming skills, a good command of English (oral and written) and experience in 3D modelling, BIM and/or computational geometry, preferably from a programming perspective. Experience with C++ is beneficial. The candidate should also have an affinity with working in multi‐disciplinary teams in an international oriented environment.

What we offer

Salary scale 10 or 11; depending on the working experience and education level of the candidate. The UFO profile ranges from Researcher 4 (VSNU-CAO scale 10, salary between € 2.846 and € 4.490, FT) to Researcher 3 (scale 11, salary between € 3.821 and € 5.230, FT). The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount for health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged. Coming to Delft Service organizes diverse events for new international employees and their accompanying partners, like Partner Career Workshops and Dutch Culture Workshops. Located on campus are the International Children’s Centre and an international primary school which are subject to availability as well as several bilingual schools in the nearby surrounding. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

How to apply

You can apply via this webpage. Your application should contain:

• A letter of application and a detailed CV.
• A list of top 3 of your articles or other proof of work (projects, experience) related to the position.
• The names of two or three references, with contact information (letters not required at this stage).

Please note:

• You can only apply online; applications sent by email and/or post will not be processed
• Incomplete applications will not be processed
• Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated

For more information about this position, please contact directly Prof dr Jantien Stoter (j.e.stoter@tudelft.nl).