Object Oriented Databases

As engineers in this modern era, databases are used in almost every aspect of our careers.  While working on co-op I learned to use databases that the firm created, that were provided by equipment manufacturing, and that had been used for BIM or Revit purposes.  The database most relevant to this course would have to be the one we used for Revit and AutoCAD.  As a structural engineer, most of the materials we work with are somewhat generic and do not have specific manufacturers providing models of their product.  For the most part, Revit has the steel shapes stored within the preloaded database. However, when it came to concrete design, we often had to create our own families within the database for different types o concrete beams and columns.  Eventually this database begins to cover almost every type of beam or column and therefore lessens the requirement for engineers to make new families for a given project. After reading Maria's and Kayleigh's post I was able to understand a little better what exactly databases are and what they are used for within the BIM category.  While I had an idea of what an object oriented database is, I wasn't actually clear until reading their posts. 

Object oriented databases are exactly what their name implies, they store objects rather than data points.  This is obviously geared towards design applications, whether they be in CAD, BIM, manufacturing, animation, or anything of the sort.  This allows for the designers to be more efficient with their design and modeling.  I know that if I had to redraw everything in Revit or even AutoCAD, my job would have taken twice as long, which would dramatically decrease my efficiency.  I only see the use of these databases increasing tremendously over the course of our careers.  With the theme of this course being intelligent buildings, I feel this topic fits perfectly.  As engineers and designers, we will definitely continue to utilize these databases to further the efficiency of our process and design more intelligent buildings. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_database

ieor.berkeley.edu/~goldberg/courses/F04/215/215-OODB.ppt

http://www.25hoursaday.com/WhyArentYouUsingAnOODBMS.html