Alireza Shojaei, Reachsak Ly, Saeed Rokooei, Amirsamman Mahdavian, Ahmed Al-Bayati
{"title":"Virtual site visits in Construction Management education: A practical alternative to physical site visits","authors":"Alireza Shojaei, Reachsak Ly, Saeed Rokooei, Amirsamman Mahdavian, Ahmed Al-Bayati","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.036","url":null,"abstract":"Construction site visits and hands-on experiences are among the important instruments for educators in construction engineering and management to provide students with valuable knowledge and more engaging learning experiences. However, in addition to its existing logistical challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic has made site visits even more inaccessible as in-person classes and site visits moved to distant learning or got canceled. In a distance education system, conducting a physical site visit is not an easy task. This study focuses on the use of virtual site visits in construction and experiencing virtual hands-on training using immersive videos. Three types of video formats were used as the main content delivery methods in this pilot study namely, 2D flat, 360-degree, and 180-degree 3D videos. This method was adopted and tested in two courses that were previously face-to-face, which were then shifted to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of immersive videos gave students who would not have the ability to experience a physical site visit, the opportunity to experience the construction site environment and receive educational direction during a pre-recorded, hands-on, immersive video project. The goal of this study is to understand students’ experience with the provided technology, necessary improvement, implications for future research, and the potential implementations of this technology. A costume set of questionnaires was designed to retrieve students’ feedback on their experience which includes a comparison of different content delivery methods and four other study measures: knowledge retention, sense of presence, user experience, and overall satisfaction. Multiple statistical analyses were conducted on the collected data to provide both descriptive details and further insight into the study parameters and their relationship with each other and between different parameters.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135540084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vision-based tracking method of nighttime construction workers by integrating YOLOv5 and Deepsort","authors":"Guofeng Ma, Yiqin Jing, Zihao Huang, Jing Xu, Houzhuang Zhu","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.38","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.38","url":null,"abstract":"Due to poor visibility and fatigue factors, although nighttime construction has been widely used, its safety problems like struck-by accidents have also become increasingly prominent. Most of the current tracking methods of workers are not suitable for direct application in nighttime construction scenarios, so this research proposes a vision-based method, which integrates low-light image enhancement technology, YOLOv5 and Deepsort to track nighttime workers. The proposed method is mainly composed of four modules, including illumination enhancement module, detection module, the Kalman filter and matching module. In the experiment based on nine test videos, the method achieved the average multiple-object tracking accuracy (MOTA) of 89.93% and multiple-object tracking precision (MOTP) of 97.07%. At the same time, the experimental results also show that the method is robust to the common tracking challenges of occlusions, scale variations and posture variations. The proposed method has practical application potential in the monitoring task in nighttime construction, which makes the nighttime construction activities safer and more efficient.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135480517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Potential for synergetic integration of Building Information Modelling, Blockchain and Supply Chain Management in construction industry","authors":"Hirusheekesan Selvanesan, Niranji Satanarachchi","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.035","url":null,"abstract":"Construction industry nowadays is facing several key issues as the likes of cost and time overruns and unstable business environment which lead to suppressed profitability, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction. Studies have suggested, an improved Supply Chain Management (SCM) towards Sustainable Supply Chain (SSCM) could help in this regard, however there are barriers observed to its implementation in the construction industry. Building Information Modelling (BIM) too is considered a positive disrupter in the construction industry due to the potential in its applications, and one of such potential is improving the SCM. However, similar to SCM, adoption of BIM faces several barriers. Preliminary review suggests that some of its barriers could be resolved by integrating with Blockchain, another disruptor stemming from Industry 4.0. Hence, this paper attempts to assess how the synergy of BIM and blockchain would improve the SCM of the construction industry. For that purpose, through a systematic literature review, the paper structures the barriers of SCM, and barriers and benefits of BIM and blockchain in construction industry across the dimensions of Socio-technical, Industrial, Organizational, Financial, Legal and Institutional, and Sustainability, and conceptually maps the barriers and benefits to identify their collective impact on SCM. From this study it was found that with the help of Blockchain integration, there are a number of potential synergies that may solve critical inherent issues in both BIM and SCM, such as reluctance of information sharing and trust, sustainability concerns and safety, leading to positive cumulative impact on SCM. However, it was also recognized that there can be negative as well as neutral cumulative impacts on areas such as cost, and lack of personnel, knowledge and institutional support that can lead to an opposite impact.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135406042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolution of BIM: epistemology, genesis and division into periods","authors":"Andrzej Szymon Borkowski","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.034","url":null,"abstract":"There is no consensus among BIM practitioners and theorists as to whether BIM is an evolution from CAD systems or a total revolution in construction. In the history of BIM, there have been a number of important, epoch-making events that have changed the direction of BIM. From the concept of BIM, to the technology used in construction, to the methodology, to the process, to the holistic idea of BIM, one can see the evolution of user approaches to its use. BIM has two dimensions: an information system and a philosophy. Thus, BIM is both a tool and a philosophy that brings about a revolution. Several decades of BIM development prompts reflection and the delineation of perhaps some stages of maturation. This paper presents a theory of cognition (epistemology), essential for understanding the history of BIM. The genesis of the separation of BIM from CAD makes it clear that specific factors influenced further developments. Thus, the aim of the study was to periodise BIM in view of various factors that may be relevant to researchers interested in BIM and companies using or implementing BIM. The literature survey maintained inclusivity to reflect both positive and critical aspects of BIM. The periodisation of the history of BIM was done due to 3 factors: idea, approach and organisational culture. The development of the BIM idea established the direction in which systems and software development was heading, the user approach forced interoperability and the organisational culture emphasised increasing efficiency. Working according to the openBIM approach or within an IPD framework is probably not the end of the anticipated level of BIM maturity. The division into periods will probably be the subject of much discussion, but will perhaps set the directions for the future.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135251961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Construction management in space: explore solution space of optimal schedule and cost estimate","authors":"Marcel Nagatoishi, Renate Fruchter","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.032","url":null,"abstract":"Multi-planetary life is one of humanity's audacious dreams. A key challenge towards achieving such a space mission is the design and construction of space habitats, for instance, on Mars. This paper presents a virtual space construction decision framework (SCDF) prototype developed and tested to address the question: \"How can space construction project partners make informed decisions and leverage new construction methods and cutting-edge technologies that are developed and transform the AEC terrestrial industry?\" We consider six practical and theoretical points of departure reflecting knowledge and technology and their application towards developing SCDF: General Contractor Workflow; BIM; Generative Scheduling and Construction Schedule Optimization; Construction Robotics; 3D Printing; Virtual Reality (VR) and Visualization. SCDF development applied virtual design and construction (VDC) to model - simulate - optimize - visualize - validate a space construction project by exploring the solution space in the context of extra-terrestrial construction environments from concept design to construction completion in the virtual environment before any mission is launched. Results confirm that insights from terrestrial construction apply to extra-terrestrial construction and vice versa. These insights contribute to the six points of departure at three levels: 1. The SCDF; 2. Extensions to existing technology platforms; 3. New approaches and methods.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136011278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kantheepan Yogeeswaran, Qian Chen, Borja García de Soto
{"title":"Utilizing augmented reality for the assembly and disassembly of panelized construction","authors":"Kantheepan Yogeeswaran, Qian Chen, Borja García de Soto","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.030","url":null,"abstract":"Prefabricated construction allows for efficient resource usage while creating higher-quality products that can be assembled on-site within a short time. While this translates to significant benefits for the overall construction, challenges arise from an increased demand for trained prefabrication assembly workers. As prefabrication calls for skills differing from traditional construction, the local labor force can be negatively affected to impede the successful uptake of prefabricated construction. Upskilling the local workforce to take on prefabrication assembly and potential disassembly can solve this problem. This is more relevant to remote construction projects as they stand to gain more from prefabricated construction. This study presents two workflows for creating Augmented Reality (AR) solutions. The AR solutions are aimed to help workers transition between traditional and prefabrication assembly in a panelized construction project. They are: (1) using QR codes to identify a panel’s intended location and construction sequence and (2) using predefined markers to show required equipment and on-site assembly procedures. The solutions are delivered through smartphones, which are readily available and provide a cost-effective medium. Furthermore, developed workflows present an opportunity to implement Design for Disassembly (DfD) concepts in a project. The proposed workflows show the potential to substantially help communicate to the workers the instructions on both the panel assembly and disassembly activities and upskill the local workforce to support the transition to prefabrication assembly in construction projects.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORIAL: The future of construction in the context of digital transformation (CONVR 2022)","authors":"","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.026","url":null,"abstract":"ary This special issue of Information Technology in Construction is dedicated to exploring the future of construction in the context of digital transformation. The inspiration for this edition stemmed from the 22nd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR 2022), which was held at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea. The overarching theme for CONVR 2022 was “The future of construction in the context of digital transformation and decarbonization”. With over 200 participants attending in person and many more joining online, the conference served as a platform for researchers to present innovative work on VR/AR, BIM, digital twins, IoT, artificial intelligence, construction automation, circular economy, and sustainability in the construction industry. The wealth of knowledge shared during the conference prompted us to invite the authors of outstanding papers to expand their contributions for publication in this special issue. The editors hope that this collection of articles will offer a glimpse into the current state of research on digitalization in the construction industry, and that it will serve as a valuable reference source for further research.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136061245","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A case study towards assessing the impact of mixed reality-based inspection and resolution of MEP issues during construction","authors":"Simge Girgin, Renate Fruchter, Martin Fischer","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.029","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.029","url":null,"abstract":"Despite advances in 3D clash detection during preconstruction, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) installations are still prone to the detection of unforeseen clashes during construction. These issues must be resolved as quickly as possible to prevent significant schedule delays. Through interviews and field observations, this case study investigates the impact of mixed reality (MR) on the inspection and resolution of field-detected MEP issues from product, organization, and process (POP) perspectives. For the product impact, preliminary findings from the field interviews show that MR-based inspection would increase the quality of MEP installation by identifying errors easily and resolving them faster. For the organizational impact, we modeled and compared the current (as-is) and MR-integrated (to-be) MEP field issue resolution workflows using Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and determined that MR-based inspections can decrease the coordination overhead between MEP engineers and superintendents by up to 75%. This translates into at least a 50% faster resolution of an MEP issue for the process impact. The paper contributes to the practice of MR-based field inspection by providing a method to quantify potential time savings by integrating MR into the MEP field issue resolution workflow and field interview questions for MEP engineers and superintendents to further examine the use of MR during inspection activities in construction projects. Our observations of MEP superintendents and engineers during field inspection showed that not all building information visualized in MR is useful for their inspection tasks. We developed a classification for building information usefulness to help construction project managers who are deploying MR determine useful information for the task at hand that needs to be integrated into the 3D MR model for MR-based inspections.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Oliver Disney, Mattias Roupé, Mikael Johansson, Johannes Ris, Per Höglin
{"title":"Total BIM on the construction site: a dynamic single source of information","authors":"Oliver Disney, Mattias Roupé, Mikael Johansson, Johannes Ris, Per Höglin","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.027","url":null,"abstract":"Digital technologies are rapidly transforming the construction industry, offering new opportunities to improve site work performance. Traditionally, site workers take information from static construction documents such as 2D paper drawings. However, in the Nordic region, a dynamic approach known as Total BIM has gained interest. Total BIM is a model-based approach to construction where BIM replaces 2D drawings as the contractual and legally binding construction document, and site workers use production-oriented, cloud-based BIM, on mobile devices to extract construction information. By having a dynamic single source of information, site workers face new demands as they independently extract construction information directly from BIM. This paper investigates the impact of Total BIM on site work methods through four real-life case studies, site visits, workshops, seminars and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that Total BIM provided site workers with a more dynamic construction process where the mobile BIM-viewer software became a central communication and management platform. Key digital Total BIM features were investigated that site workers used to perform new work methods, including measuring, filtering, visualizing, communicating, checklists, and requests for information. By using Total BIM instead of static 2D drawings, site workers interacted dynamically with BIM on mobile devices, changing the process of how work was implemented on the construction site. The practical implications of these findings can be used to support the on-site implementation and strategy work of Total BIM. Furthermore, this paper contributes practical concrete examples of on-site Total BIM use and addresses issues commonly found in state-of-the-art BIM projects.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136061251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mustika Sari, Mohammed Ali Berawi, Teuku Yuri Zagloel, Nunik Madyaningarum, Perdana Miraj, Ardiansyah Ramadhan Pranoto, Bambang Susantono, Roy Woodhead
{"title":"Machine learning-based energy use prediction for the smart building energy management system","authors":"Mustika Sari, Mohammed Ali Berawi, Teuku Yuri Zagloel, Nunik Madyaningarum, Perdana Miraj, Ardiansyah Ramadhan Pranoto, Bambang Susantono, Roy Woodhead","doi":"10.36680/j.itcon.2023.033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2023.033","url":null,"abstract":"Smart building is a building development approach utilizing digital and communication technology to improve occupants' comfort inside the building and help increase energy usage efficiency in building operations. Despite its benefits, the smart building concept is still slowly adopted, particularly in developing countries. The advancement of computational techniques such as machine learning (ML) has helped building owners simulate and optimize various building performances in the building design process more accurately. Therefore, this study aims to assist energy efficiency design strategies in a building by identifying the features of the smart building characteristics that can potentially foster building energy efficiency. Furthermore, an ML model based on the features identified is then developed to predict the level of energy use. K-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN) algorithm is employed to develop the model with the openly accessible smart building energy usage datasets from Chulalongkorn University Building Energy Management System (CU-BEMS) as the training and testing datasets. The validation result shows that the predictive model has an average relative error value of 17.76%. The energy efficiency levels obtained from applying identified features range from 34.5% to 45.3%, depending on the reviewed floor. This paper also proposed the dashboard interface design for ML-based smart building energy management.","PeriodicalId":51624,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Information Technology in Construction","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}