BCFSleuth
🌐 View BCFSleuth Landing Page
A modern web-based BCF (Building Collaboration Format) platform with universal format support, analytics dashboard, viewpoint coordinate extraction, and professional reporting capabilities.
🤖 AI-Assisted Development
BCFSleuth V2.0 is what happens when real-world AECO/BIM experience meets AI coding horsepower:
- 🧠 AI Assistant: Claude (Anthropic) helped with architecture ideas, cranked out code, and tracked down bugs
- ⚡ Fast Build: Features that would've taken months the old way came together in days
- 🏗️ Domain Expertise: 25+ years in AECO/BIM guiding the direction and keeping it practical
- 🔄 Iterative Workflow: Build, test, tweak, repeat — until it was rock-solid and ready to use
The result? A capable, ready-to-work BCF management platform built faster than I thought possible
What BCFSleuth Does
BCFSleuth is a modern, web-based evolution of BCF management tools like the original Sloth. It processes BCF files entirely in your browser - no uploads, no accounts, complete privacy. Drag in your BCF files and get instant access to data analysis, image management, viewpoint coordinate extraction, and professional reports.
Universal BCF Support: Handles all BCF formats (2.0, 2.1, 3.0) with intelligent format detection and adaptation.
Key Features
📊 Analytics Dashboard
- Interactive Charts: 5 visualization types analyzing status, priority, timeline, authors, and comments
- Chart Lightbox: Full-screen viewing with zoom, navigation, and export capabilities
- Custom Analytics: Build specialized reports with field selection and cross-analysis
- Professional Export: Charts integrated into PDF and Word reports
🔍 Advanced Data Preview
- Smart Table: Sortable columns with multi-criteria filtering (search, status, priority, assignee, dates)
- Comment Expansion: Click to view full comment threads without losing context
- Viewpoint Coordinates: Display complete camera data with expandable viewpoint rows
- Real-time Search: Instant filtering across all BCF fields
- Export Preview: See exactly what will be exported before generating reports
📐 Viewpoint Coordinate Extraction
- Complete Camera Data: Extract all 18 BCF coordinate fields including positions, directions, and properties
- Multi-Version Support: Full compatibility with BCF 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 coordinate standards
- Multiple Viewpoints: Handle topics with multiple viewpoints and display them as expandable rows
- Export Integration: Include precise coordinate data in CSV and Excel exports
- Visual Organization: Clearly distinguish viewpoint rows with distinctive styling
🖼️ Professional Image Management
- Gallery View: All BCF images with metadata in organized layout
- Lightbox Viewer: Full-screen viewing with zoom controls and navigation
- Bulk Operations: Download individual images or create ZIP archives with smart naming
- Report Integration: Embed images in professional PDF and Word documents
📄 Multi-Format Reports
- PDF Reports: Three layout options with project statistics and embedded images
- Word Documents: Fully editable reports perfect for stakeholder collaboration
- Excel Export: Formatted spreadsheets with headers, styling, and coordinate data
- CSV Export: Clean data format with complete coordinate fields for further analysis
⚙️ Enterprise Configuration
- Template System: Save field selection templates including coordinate options for consistent team exports
- Coordinate Controls: Section-level selection for all 18 coordinate fields with smart defaults
- User Preferences: Customize defaults for format, pagination, and interface settings
- Processing History: Track all BCF files processed with detailed metrics
- Team Collaboration: Import/export templates via JSON for standardization
Screenshots
Quick Start
- Open BCFSleuth V2.0
- Drag & Drop your BCF file (supports all versions: 2.0, 2.1, 3.0)
- Configure Fields (optional): Enable viewpoint coordinate fields in Configuration tab for spatial analysis
- Explore Your Data:
- Analytics tab: View interactive charts and create custom analysis
- Advanced Preview: Sort, filter, and expand comments and viewpoints in your BCF data
- Image Viewer: Browse all images with professional lightbox viewing
- Configuration: Set up templates and preferences for your workflow
- Generate Reports: Export as CSV, Excel, PDF, or Word with embedded charts, images, and coordinate data
Privacy & Security
Complete Client-Side Processing: All BCF data, images, coordinate information, and analytics remain in your browser. No uploads, no accounts, no data transmission. Your project information never leaves your device.
Self-Hosting
BCFSleuth is pure HTML/CSS/JavaScript - no build process required.
# Clone or download
git clone https://github.com/TheBIMsider/bcfsleuth.git
cd bcfsleuth
# Serve locally
python -m http.server 8000
# or upload to any web server
Hosting Options: GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, or any traditional web hosting.
Technical Details
- Dependencies: Chart.js, JSZip, SheetJS, jsPDF, docx
- Browser Support: Chrome 90+, Firefox 85+, Safari 14+, Edge 90+
- Performance: Handles 1000+ topics with 300+ images and complete coordinate data efficiently
- BCF Compliance: Full support for BCF coordinate specifications across all versions
- Code Quality: 8,000+ lines of production-quality JavaScript
Architecture & Code Quality
Production-Ready Codebase: Professional architecture with centralized utilities, optimized performance, and A+ code quality.
File Structure
BCFSleuth/
├── index.html # Main application interface
├── css/
│ └── style.css # Application styling
├── js/
│ ├── utils/ # Shared utility modules
│ │ ├── coordinate-utils.js # Coordinate handling utilities
│ │ ├── pdf-utils.js # PDF generation utilities
│ │ └── color-manager.js # Color management system
│ ├── app.js # Main application logic
│ ├── bcf-parser.js # BCF file parsing engine
│ ├── advanced-preview.js # Data preview and filtering
│ ├── image-viewer.js # Image management and reports
│ ├── analytics-dashboard.js # Interactive charts and analytics
│ ├── excel-exporter.js # Excel report generation
│ ├── csv-exporter.js # CSV export functionality
│ └── configuration.js # Settings and template management
Technical Features
- 95% Code Duplication Reduction: Centralized utilities eliminate redundancy
- Optimized Methods: Large methods broken into focused, testable units
- Debug Mode: Comprehensive logging system for troubleshooting
- Error Handling: Standardized user feedback across all operations
- Performance: Handles 1000+ topics with 300+ images efficiently
Development & Contributing
We welcome contributions from the AECO community:
- 🐛 Report bugs via GitHub Issues
- 💡 Suggest features for openBIM workflows
- 🔧 Submit pull requests
- 📝 Improve documentation
Development Approach: Human AECO expertise + AI implementation = rapid delivery of professional-grade tools.
About BCF
The Building Collaboration Format (BCF) is an open file format supporting workflow communication in BIM processes. BCF viewpoint coordinates provide precise camera positioning information enabling spatial context for issues and comments. Learn more at buildingSMART International.
Acknowledgments
BCFSleuth is inspired by the original Sloth application created by Simon Moreau at BIM42. We're grateful for his pioneering work in BCF processing and contributions to the AECO community.
License
This project is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause License.
Built with ❤️ & 🤖 AI assistance by The BIMsider for the AECO community
A modern way to investigate your BCF files with precision
