I would like to create a region based parameter for certain families in our models. To give more background, certain clients we deal with prefer to have an itemized count of all data connections to specific MDF/IDF/IT rooms. I was wondering if its possible to draw out or specify an area/region that would automatically set a “Data Location” parameter just based on what region the element is located in. Then the rest could be handled with schedules.
My overarching question is if pyRevit would be required for this task. I’m fairly familiar with revit but I’m not sure if a solution for this is already available in the base software. I’m confident many of you are far more familiar with revit than I am, so if this is possible without the use of pyRevit I’d love to hear how. If pyRevit is required I also wouldn’t mind hearing thoughts on how you guys would go about creating a script like this.
You probably do not need pyRevit for this. It should be possible out-of-the-box in Revit. Here’s how:
First, you must add spaces for all rooms in the project. Then, create zones and add spaces to them to represent the region served by an IT room. Once that is done, you can schedule the data devices. In the schedule, you can add the “Zone” parameter of each device’s space:
It is a bit of a workaround. This could be a problem if you are already using zones for HVAC, but if not, I think it will do what you require.
Edit: There is possibly one issue with this approach. If you change the zone name, it may not update on the schedule immediately. I had to close and re-open the model for the name change to take effect on the schedule. Still, it may work well enough for you.
I am on the electrical end of the MEP world so I had never utilized the zone tool before, thankfully we do mechanical and electrical models separately, so conflicting zones should not be an issue. I did test it out and it worked just as I hoped. You just saved myself and my coworkers many many hours of manually setting parameters, so thank you very much. The only issue I could see arising with this method is any data devices on the exterior of the building, such as security cameras, access control, etc. Regardless, the device counts are usually minimal compared to what’s on the inside of the building, so if manual input is required for such devices I am perfectly fine with that, but do you know of a method or workaround that would solve this as well?
You can create an exterior space, then assign that to a zone.
Just create a giant rectangle around the building using space separator lines, then place a space inside the rectangle, but outside of the building. Make sure the space is tall enough so that it encompasses devices on upper levels. Perhaps you will need more than one exterior space, which you could accomplish with additional space separator lines.
(This technique usually works well, but it may require some cleanup and adjustment using space separators.)
