# BIM Visual Programming Tools Applications in Infrastructure Projects: A State-of-the-Art Review
## 3 Results and Discussion
### General Results Analysis
Figure 4c shows that the keywords of buildings, building information modeling/models, VP, and Dynamo are associated with most of the keywords in Table 1. These words also  
Figure 4: Comparative scenarios of the reviewed publications. (**a**) Comparison between the groups of papers associated with architecture and infrastructure projects, (**b**) comparison between papers’ groups of the VP applications and No VP applications in infrastructure projects, and (**c**) distribution of publications found by associated keywords. show that the specific research towards the development or study of algorithms of VP in BIM projects is growing, as presented in Figure 4.  
Table 2 presents the classifications by the document type of the infrastructure projects reviewed in this study. These types are patents, papers, reviews, and conferences. The table columns are document type, the number of papers by document type, and the percentage values for each document type relative to the total number of reviewed papers. Table 2 shows that 50% of the reviewed works are patents. These are focused on protecting the property of created algorithms. Some examples of these patents are: (1) [PERSON] et al. (2016), who developed an integrated platform in Dynamo that parameterizes geometries of roads and bridges. The invention was focused on the design, quantification, and control of public projects. (2) [PERSON] et al. (2017), who generated a Dynamo algorithm to create parametric models for tunnels. This invention integrated data from specialized geological software into BIM models. (3) [PERSON] et al. (2017); [PERSON] et al. (2018), who developed a parametric model in Dynamo to generate beams for bridges. This platform integrated the topographic data, design processes, and assembly of construction elements. Academic papers contributed 33.33% of the reviewed contributions. Among these studies are: (1) [PERSON] et al. (2018), who developed a sensor integration method using VP scripts to assess existing projects' structural health. This platform was implemented in road infrastructure projects in the city of Dublin (Ireland). (2) [PERSON] et al. (2018), who created a parametric model to generate the roadway of highway projects. Then, they evaluated its interoperability with Civil3D and Rhinoceros software to study the loss of information. The platform was used in a road project in Italy, evaluating different design alternatives. (3) [PERSON] et al. (2018), who evaluated the safety conditions in excavation works using an automated environment of VP algorithms. The platform was used in an example project of Autodesk Revit software. In the case of meetings, the following studies are highlighted: (1) [PERSON] et al. (2018), who integrated a network of sensors to inspect bridges using algorithms created in Python. This network allowed the interoperability of databases to be cleaned based on sensors. (2) [PERSON] (2018) (2018), who developed parametric models in Grasshopper for BIM models from ArchiCad software. (3) [PERSON] et al. (2018), who studied the applications of parametric models in Dynamo to manage green habitats. This study applied VP tools to study BIM infrastructure projects' sustainability. However, it was undertaken using a non-energy approach. The study developed by [PERSON] et al. (2018) is of particular interest because it is the only review study found in the search. Therefore, it is the only effort to review the applications of VP tools in infrastructure projects. This study reviewed the VP checking tool applications in railway design projects in Germany. Table 3 presents the distribution by geographic region of the principal authors' works. This table includes the following columns: countries, the number of publications per country, and the percentage that each country contributed to this bibliographic review. Countries that each contributed only one study to this review are grouped in a cell called \"Other countries\". These countries are Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey.