A Multi-LOD Model for Visualizing Building Information Models’ Vagueness

Abstract

The decisions taken throughout a building’s design stages steer a project’s success and outcome. The early stages involve choosing between alternative designs and form the basis of the following stages. Therefore, managing the early stages is crucial in avoiding a substantial amount of rework and reduced productivity. However, the lack of adequate and accurate information impedes informed decision-making. At the same time, current model-based planning techniques require extensive input data and produce very detailed designs, which can lead to false assumptions and model evaluations. Hence, this paper discusses a metamodel approach to support a formal definition of the model information in multiple design stages, incorporating potential vagueness. Thereafter, multiple visualization techniques are proposed for conveying the specified vagueness. This approach facilitates performing subjective estimation of a building model’s information at the early stages to support model analyses and decision-making.