A Cloud-Based Mobile Augmented Reality Application for BIM Collaboration

Abstract

The complexity and the fragmentation of the construction industry require interprofessional collaboration and effective real-time management of information exchange throughout the construction process. Augmented Reality (AR), Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Cloud Computing have proven to be highly promising in enhancing performance while reducing costs in the AEC domain. This paper presents a mobile Open-Source application named "CollaBIM" providing visualization, collaboration, and interaction functionalities with a BIM model. Collaboration is the focus of this work by using a Cloud service allowing notification, display of the schedule, visualization of updated data and images. The application is developed under Unity and uses a BIM model resulting from a Scan-To-BIM process. It is executable on Android mobile devices and can be easily integrated into the work processes of the construction sector.