Interactive Holograms for Construction Coordination and Quantification

Advancements in information technology in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry have led to the deployment of building information modeling (BIM) throughout the life cycle of buildings. BIM represents a collaborative and information-rich environment that can be used in the design, construction, and facility management phases of a project. BIM can also be used to visualize the construction project as an immersive environment using virtual and augmented reality. Similar environments can be developed using game engines to further elaborate on the information embedded in a building information model. This study presents a new visualization technique for building information models and interactive holograms and validates their effectiveness through an experimental study. A plugin to automate the transfer of models into game engines, software to enable intuitive interaction with the hologram using hand gestures and voice commands, and a display platform that allows the visualization of the hologram were developed. The results of the study showed that the developed plugin is more effective than traditional methods used to export building models from modeling platforms into a gaming environment. Moreover, the interactive hologram was determined to be user-friendly and a good learning tool for construction management education. The developed technologies enhance the BIM-data, human-building, and human-human levels of interaction necessary for a successful BIM visualization environment and make a collaborative visualization tool available to construction project teams for more effective communication. (c) 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.