A clear and scalable spatial structure helps you keep your documents and digital assets organized. In BIMcollab, this structure mirrors the real-world environment, making it easier to locate projects, manage documents, and navigate large portfolios.
Two key building blocks of this structure are Locations and Location Groups.
Understanding Locations
What is a Location?
A Location is the primary organizational unit in your document management.
It acts as a top-level container for subordinate elements such as plots, buildings, parts, and storeys.
For example, a university campus could be one Location, containing multiple plots and buildings within its boundary.
Each project needs at least one Location to initiate its spatial structure. Administrators are responsible for creating and managing Locations, ensuring they reflect the real-world environment accurately.
What is a Location Group?
To manage multiple Locations, especially in complex projects, you can use Location Groups. These groups bring together Locations that have similar on geographic or functional criteria.
For example:
Individual cities can be defined as Locations,
The country containing these cities can be established as a Location Group.
Location Groups can also contain subgroups, creating a hierarchical organization. For example, in urban planning:
Location group: the Netherlands (country)
Subgroup: North Brabant (province)
The Spatial Hierarchy
Beyond Locations and Location Groups, the spatial structure includes other elements:
Plots: Parcels of land within a Location where buildings are situated.
Buildings: Physical structures erected on plots, each with a specific address.
Parts: Optional subdivisions within buildings, useful for complex structures requiring separate management (e.g., different departments in a hospital).
Storeys: Vertical divisions within buildings or parts, typically representing individual floors.
This hierarchy provides a complete, scalable representation of the real-world environment within your digital solution.
Creating and Linking Locations and Location Groups
Administrators can create and manage Locations and Location Groups to establish a coherent spatial structure for their projects. This guide explains how to set them up.
Creating a Location
Navigate to the 'Locations' section in the Twin administration interface.
Click the 'Add' button located at the top right corner.
Fill in the required fields:
Name: The name of the Location.
Code: A unique identifier for the Location.
Description: Additional details about the Location.
After creating the Location, access its settings to configure further options:
Information: Add projects to this Location, manage plots, and edit Location details (plus adding regular expressions).
Location Group: Assign the Location to a Location Group.
Regular Expression: View Regular Expressions or patterns for documents and assets.
Events: View a log of activities and changes related to the Location.
📝 Note: For new BIMcollab Spaces, a default location will be automatically available. You can edit or delete it, but at least one Location must always exist.
Creating a Location Group
Navigate to the 'Location Groups' section in the Twin administration interface.
Click the 'Add' button.
Fill in the required fields:
Name: The name of the Location Group.
Description: Details about the group's purpose or scope.
Parent Group: Select an existing Location Group to serve as the parent.
After saving, the new Location Group will appear in the list. Access its settings to:
Information: Edit the group's name, description, and parent group. Also you can see if your location group has any subgroups.
Locations: Add existing Locations to this group or view the Locations already associated with it.
💡 Tip: You can also add locations to a location group from the location itself. Go to the Location groups page and then select "Add location group".
💡 Best practice: If you’re managing multiple subgroups, it is important to create them in logical order.
For example, first create:
Location group: the Netherlands (country)
Subgroup: North Brabant (province)
Subgroup: Eindhoven (city)
This way, when opening the Netherlands, you’ll see Noord-Brabant as a subgroup. When opening Noord-Brabant, Eindhoven will appear as a subgroup.
Link a Project to a Location
By default, new projects are assigned to the default location. This is an automatically generated location, but you can edit or delete it if needed.
Here is how to move a project to another location:
Navigate to the target location.
Click on [Move project to location].
Select the project from the dropdown menu.
Click [Save] to confirm.
📝 Note: If you delete the default Location, it will automatically regenerate when a new project is created.
⚠️ Attention: Only projects without a spatial structure can be moved to a different location. Once a spatial structure is added to a project, its location is fixed. Take note of the warning when adding parts to phases within the project.
Viewing Locations as a User
Once Locations have been set up by an administrator, users can see them in the 'My projects' environment:
In the navigation sidebar, users will see the Locations and Location groups they are part of, along with the Projects and Phases contained within each Location. Selecting a Location opens its overview, displaying all associated projects and their active phases.
💡 Tip: Users can only access Locations and Projects they have been granted permissions for. If you do not see a specific Location or Project, contact your space administrator to verify your access rights.