Mixed Reality-Based Visualization Interfaces for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry

Varied computing devices and automated sensors will enable new human-computer interface paradigms for interacting with digitally managed project information. The writers therefore propose the development of Mixed Reality (MR)-based computer interfaces, and especially Augmented Reality systems, for the architecture, engineering, and construction industry and describe the technologies and principles for applying such computer interfaces to support all phases of the constructed facility project life cycle. An Augmented Reality computer-aided drawing prototype is described as an experimental platform to study the human factors issues in interacting with Augmented Reality three-dimensional digital design models. Two critical research needs are cited for realizing effective Augmented Reality systems: (1) human factors research for development of visualization tools to enhance design comprehension and support collaborative work, and (2) the development of a technology infrastructure for “augmented” control and inspection interfaces to directly access digital project plan and site information that may be spatially referenced and displayed in the field. Research should be geared to advance knowledge regarding spatial cognition, human–computer interfaces, and computer-mediated human-to-human interactions, and it should address application of MR to all phases of the project life cycle.     

Application of Web Services for Structural Engineering Systems

The Internet has revolutionized the way computing is done and the way software systems work. Many systems, such as search engines and PC games, have utilized Web-related technologies for Web-based systems. However, the application of Web-based engineering software is still in its infancy, especially regarding engineering computing. This paper presents a prototype development of Web-based structural engineering systems by utilizing modern computer graphics and information technology to provide Web-based analytical services. The system design emphasizes platform-independence, graphical interface, system performance, and a multiple-user environment. The user needs only an Internet-connected machine to access high-performance services provided at remote sites over the Web. This framework will provide users a powerful tool to efficiently perform analysis with minimal computer resource requirements. The user will always have access to the most up-to-date and functional system with no client-side updates or maintenance required. Two Web-based system implementations are given as examples in this paper.     

Assessment of the Computing Component of Civil Engineering Education

This paper presents the results of two surveys conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Task Committee on Computing Education of the Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology to assess the current computing component of the curriculum in civil engineering. Previous surveys completed in 1989 and 1995 have addressed the question of what should be taught to civil engineering students regarding computing. The surveys reported in this paper are a follow-up study to the two earlier surveys. Key findings of the study include: (1) the relative importance of the top four skills (spreadsheets, word processors, computer aided-design, electronic communication) has remained unchanged; (2) programming competence is ranked very low by practitioners; (3) the importance and use of geographic information system and specialized engineering software have increased over the past decade; (4) the importance and use of expert systems have significantly decreased over the past decade; and (5) the importance and use of equation solvers and databases have declined over the past decade.     

Project Management Practices and Information Technology Research

Corporations of varying sizes and operations within the construction industry acclaim the contribution of project management applications that assist in business and operational practices. An integrated intelligent construction management application that enables process modeling and algorithmic analysis of construction process planning, interacts with a mainframe-based automated relational database system, and drives the project sequencing, scheduling, decision making and change management processes can introduce dramatic speed, simplicity, accuracy, and collaboration into existing project planning practices. Several research organizations and academic fraternities in concert with industry participation are focusing on the development of such futuristic tools as described above. However, evidence of such computing applications being used by the industry is minimal and a number of reasons have been cited by researchers for this. This study, through a review of the genesis, evolution, and future of computing applications in construction followed by an industry-wide survey, aims to study whether or not concurrent research agendas in construction information technology are truly sustainable from the industry’s perspective.     

Raising the Bar for Civil Engineering Education: Systems Thinking Approach

The civil engineering profession has been undergoing an identity search. With the advent of information technology and the global market, competition from engineering offices elsewhere and from other local professions is unprecedented. Technical engineering knowledge is no longer a guarantee for career success; rather a combination of numerous professional skills is required. The growing unease of civil engineers about their undefined role in the knowledge economy has led many to question civil engineering education. Although there is a push to enhance the humanistic and business aspects of the curriculum, there is a shove in the opposite direction to strengthen the technical content and keep abreast of technical change. Discussion of this socioeconomic problem within the ASCE forum has often used linear deterministic thinking that is characteristic of technical problems. Social and economic systems are usually more complex and harder to understand than technological systems. If we start making new policies to address the problems of the profession based on fuzzy, incomplete, and imprecise mental models, we may end up with counterintuitive results. This paper proposes a systems thinking approach to the reform of civil engineering education based on System Dynamics modeling, a feedback-based object-oriented modeling paradigm. Such a tool can capture the dynamic nature of complex systems and the nonlinear feedback loops that are often responsible for counterintuitive results of policy making.     

Emerging Tools to Enable Construction Engineering

Those working within the domain of construction engineering—the planning and management of the construction of infrastructure assets—today employ a wide range of information technology tools. The vast majority of these tools are used on desktop computers processing tabular information associated with scheduling, tracking, updating statuses, reporting, and similar tasks. In spite of the significant penetration of information technology into construction engineering, there is little direct reuse of the engineering information created during the design phase. Likewise, access to rich engineering information and applications to exploit this information have yet to be extended to mobile workers on the construction jobsite in any significant way. This paper explores a sampling of some of the emerging information technology tools that may be effectively applied to support construction engineering in the field.     

Educating Civil Engineering Professionals of Tomorrow

Engineering education is currently facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Engineering institutions are being called upon to educate the architectural, engineering, and construction (A/E/C) professionals of tomorrow by complementing their traditional engineering education with the transfusion of information technology and process automation concepts through the necessary reorganization of classes and academic curricula. This paper presents a framework for an interdisciplinary course sequence in civil engineering, project management, and information technology centered on the concepts of fully integrated and automated project processes (FIAPP). The described sequence enables students to benefit pedagogically from working in truly multidisciplinary teams, to enrich their educational experience by bringing real world projects to academic settings, and to teach them fundamental principles in integration and automation of project processes highlighting the value of such integrated project management systems (information management, planning, design, construction management, procurement, operations, and maintenance). Furthermore, the course sequence addresses deficiencies in current one-dimensional educational curricula and needs expressed by educators, students, and industry professionals. The paper presents experiences and knowledge gained from the aforementioned academic sequence on FIAPP and on the utilization of three-dimensional computer models and associated databases in the management of A/E/C processes.     

Integrated Civil Engineering Curriculum: Five-Year Review

An integrated curriculum, which draws material from different areas to teach students about design and problem-solving, offers civil engineering educators an option for accommodating new topics without increasing the number of courses. Freshman engineering and the senior capstone course are two examples of integrated courses, and the writers present a 5-year perspective on an approach that extends the concept of integration to six additional courses, comprised of an 8-course, integrated civil engineering core curriculum. Drawing on their combined experiences with the courses and assessment in a review by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the writers conclude that the curriculum offers a useful vehicle by which to add material to the 4-year program without increasing the number of credit hours, and offers flexible courses to meet goals of professional groups. The paper describes lessons learned, challenges that remain, and current approaches to improvement.     

Enabling More Human-Oriented Exploration of Complex Building Information Models

Building-related information is captured and has to be reused throughout the entire building life cycle. Therefore, an intuitively understandable and easy-to-handle access to a building life cycle wide archive is essential. Cross-disciplinary information seeking should be possible based on a three-dimensional representation of the building. In information seeking the planner must not be restricted to a single searching strategy. This paper initially focuses on all supporting explorative searching strategies. A “raw” building information model schema has been enhanced by user-oriented associations between particular data objects, referred to in this paper as “navigation links.” Each link is defined as a new property of a particular concept of the building model schema. Such a link points to a query recipe that can retrieve information about each instance of the concept. If the link is activated by a user, the query recipe is instantiated and processed by the system. The navigation links are formally represented using the Web Ontology Language. This paper describes the structure of the links as well as the structure of the system, which stores and processes the links throughout an information-seeking session.     

Information Technology in Civil Engineering Curriculum

The fast-moving world of information technology confronts the civil engineer with constant change. This creates challenges for educators and students because rapid change requires curricula to be flexible and educators to gain competency and access to new equipment and software. Whereas a decade ago, civil engineering educators debated how to teach “programming,” the picture is now much more complex. The paper reports on how information technologies are changing the practice of civil engineering and offers a new framework for integrating next-generation information technology into the civil engineering curriculum at the department level.     

Education in Construction Engineering and Management Built on Tradition: Blueprint for Tomorrow

Construction continues to be a significant part of the global economy and shapes the built environment and quality of life for people around the world. In the United States, construction is a multibillion dollar annual enterprise, employing nearly 10 million people. However, it appears that the fragmented nature of the industry continues to hamper productivity and hoped-for gains in efficiency. Issues involve an array of regulatory and legal constructs that: (1) redistribute risk; (2) present only low barriers to entry (making company startup somewhat easy); and (3) fail to provide the quality and quantity of labor necessary. These factors continue to produce overall inefficiencies throughout the construction industry, and ill prepare the industry for the formidable challenges of globalization, sustainability, population growth, and wise use of resources. The purpose of this paper is to review the past and present of construction engineering within the context of civil engineering, and to prescribe practical change to revitalize construction engineering education to meet future demands.     

Object Model Framework for Interface Modeling and IT-Oriented Interface Management

The intense complexity of interfaces in a construction project makes information technology (IT) applications a must for effective interface management (IM). This largely requires a unified, accurate, and efficient way of modeling interface information. Conventionally, interfaces are simply modeled as dependencies/relationships between project entities; various interface information is loosely presented in different ways, which reduces the accuracy and completeness of interface information as well as the efficiency in information exchange and application. This paper introduces an object view of interfaces and its inherent interface object modeling technique, and then presents an interface object model (IOM) framework. The IOM is the first in the literature that aims to systematically define the data structure and dependencies of interface information for modeling. It is at the core of a conceptually proposed systematic model-based IM strategy. When fully developed, the IOM can be used to accurately model multiple types of interfaces. This will greatly enhance the quality and interoperability of interface information, promote IT applications for IM, and ultimately improve interface-related project performance.     

虚拟现实技术及其在矿业中的应用

在介绍虚拟现实技术及其基本特征的基础上,简要综述国内外对该技术的应用研究现状。阐明虚拟现实技术在矿山开采设计、地质构造建模、人员及设备调度、事故模拟、安全管理、人员培训等方面的应用。提出矿山开采虚拟现实系统的体系结构及其关键技术。     

Teaching Building Information Modeling as an Integral Part of Freshman Year Civil Engineering Education

Lack of personnel with Building Information Modeling (BIM) skills is a significant constraint retarding use of the technology in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Unless BIM is introduced into undergraduate civil engineering curricula in a fundamental way, graduate civil engineers will lack the skills needed to serve a construction industry in which three-dimensional models are the main medium for expression and communication of design intent and the basis for engineering analysis. A mandatory freshman year course titled “Communicating Engineering Information,” which teaches both theoretical and practical aspects of BIM, has been developed to replace the traditional engineering graphics course at the Technion. The main lesson learned through four semesters of teaching the class is that students find BIM tools intuitive and therefore relatively easy to learn; the majority of lecture hours are now devoted to the conceptual aspects of BIM and the principles for preparing models that can be analyzed in multiple ways. BIM can and should be taught in its own right, and not as an extension to computer-aided drawing. The skills students have been able to bring to bear in design courses later in their university education indicate that the approach is sound and will enable graduates to meet the needs of the civil engineering profession in the “BIM age.”     

Diffusion of Computer Aided Design Technology in Architectural Design Practice

Computer aided design (CAD) technology is one of the most influential information technology (IT) innovations of the last four decades. This paper studies the factors that influence the spread of this important IT innovation in the context of the Turkish architectural design practice. It builds on the innovation diffusion theory which proposes that internal (i.e., copying behaviors of others) and external influence (i.e., complying with clients’ requirements, changes in government regulations, demand conditions, and consulting firms’ suggestions) factors drive diffusion of an innovation. The paper empirically tests the propositions of innovation diffusion theory by using three mathematical models: The internal influence model, the external influence model, and the mixed influence model. Research findings point out that the mixed influence model has the highest exploratory power. They show that the diffusion of CAD technology in architectural design practice is primarily driven by internal rather than external influence factors. This study is of importance to researchers because this is the first application of the influence models to the study of the diffusion of CAD technology in architectural design practice. It is also of relevance to design practitioners since the findings should provide a useful guide in their decision to adopt or not to adopt CAD technology.     

Best Practices for Integrating the Concurrent Engineering Environment into Multipartner Project Management

The use of the Internet, e-mail, and other technologies has been steadily filtering into the building process, creating a concurrent engineering (CE) environment, and enabling collaborative efforts in the building process. The concurrent engineering environment is established by a variety of tools, including internet accessible servers, e-mail, mobile telephones, and many other existing CE tools. Organizations involved in the construction process recognize the need for assessment of benefits resulting from CE tools, but find the evaluation of these benefits difficult and complicated. The project presented in this paper, “project management and organization in the concurrent engineering environment (ProCE),” is applicable to both researchers and practitioners. The ProCE project developed a measuring model, which may be used by future researchers in this area, attempted to measure benefits derived from using the CE environment in construction design and project management routines, and developed guidelines for best practice implementation by practitioners, based on four case studies. The project included the measurement of both the quantitative and qualitative benefit of CE environment implementation in building construction projects using tools that were readily available through application service providers. Measurement of cost and other quantifiable benefits have been extensively studied. Therefore, the majority of the discussion in the current paper will address the ProCE project’s measurement of qualitative benefits.     

Exploiting Knowledge Management: The Engineering and Construction Perspective

Construction companies have always relied on their knowledge assets to provide services to clients. In recent years the terminology “knowledge management” has been introduced. Knowledge management (KM) seeks to formalize the manner in which companies exploit their knowledge assets by harnessing organizational knowledge, promoting greater collaboration between groups with similar interests, capturing and using lessons learned on previous projects, etc. This paper investigates how major United States engineering design and construction firms are implementing knowledge management initiatives in order to identify best practice. It adopts a case study methodology to investigate companies’ strategy and implementation, people aspects, and metrics for performance. The study finds that there is a clear distinction between the knowledge management activities undertaken by large engineering design firms and those of construction firms. There is also a much greater emphasis on knowledge sharing, which is just one component of knowledge management. Moreover, some companies have specific KM initiatives while others have activities that are part of their normal business processes.     

Engineering Information Service Infrastructure for Ubiquitous Computing

This paper describes a software framework for the development of a ubiquitous computing environment for distributed engineering information services. Two fundamental issues are addressed: universal accessibility of devices to information services, and collaboration among the parties accessing the information services. The first calls for the development of device-independent information services that have the flexibility to support a wide range of client devices. We introduce a mediation-based framework that enables information clients to calibrate the source information services to the clients’ characteristics. The second requires effective integration of information services, which we address in two ways: (1) we sketch an ontology standard and describe how such a standard can be effectively applied for exchanging project scheduling and resource information; and (2) we illustrate an infrastructure that is particularly suitable for the integration of engineering services. A prototype for the ubiquitous computing environment has been developed that incorporates a variety of project management software as well as different devices ranging from PDAs to Web browsers, desktop computers, and servers.     

Construction Informatics in European Research: Topics and Agendas

This paper presents past and future research themes in construction informatics as perceived mostly by a community of researchers active in European Information Society projects. It is based on a survey that was conducted in the fall of 2003, mostly among the participants of these projects. The research themes are structured according to a topic map of construction informatics that classifies the R&D themes into core themes and support themes. Core themes create knowledge related either to information processing activities or communication and coordination activities. The support themes address the knowledge transfer process and include identification of research needs, transfer, deployment, and impact of research. It has been found that this research community believes that a breakthrough in the themes related to e-business and e-commerce has been made. Collaboration, integration, and data management were and will continue to be the dominant themes. A growing interest was identified in knowledge-based technologies, including knowledge management, intelligent software, and intelligent interfaces. The research efforts were mostly dedicated to requirements analysis and prototyping. The community realizes that in the future, more attention should be paid to the follow-up commercialized industry deployment and the study of the impact of the developed technologies. It plans to continuously specialize in the construction-specific issues and has only few ambitions to advance state of the art computer science or informatics in general.