I am looking into the possibilities to proces IFC_XML messages within FME. I found that the current IFC and Revit readers are not able to read IFC_XML files.

One approach is to build a custom reader / transformer / workspace to interpret IFC_XML messages. I think it would be a lot of work to make a custom implementation of the IFC_XML standard in FME. Especially difficult to interpret the geometry of the objects.

Another approach would be to use a third party tool (e.g. python library). But i am struggling to find something appropiate. I have only found xBIM Toolkit so far (which is .NET based). I am playing with the idea to see if I can use this tookit to create custom IFC_XML transformer in FME.

I would like to hear from others who are experienced with using this format. How would or have you tackle(d) this?