Interactive Holograms for Better Construction Information Communication

Over the last few decades, the investments in more complex construction projects have increased the need for better communication means. Effective means of communications should be employed on construction projects to help aggregate dispersed information between project stakeholders. Advancements in information technology have resulted in new construction visualization techniques aiming at enhancing communication between project stakeholders. Some of these technologies include virtual reality, augmented reality, and holography. The aim of this paper is to further investigate the use of holography in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations ( AECO) industry. The holographic technology used in this research was previously developed by the authors through a game engine and an add-in for Revit. The add-in allows an easy transfer of information from a building information model in Revit to be used in the game engine. In addition, the developed hologram allows the user to interact with the hologram using voice commands and/or hand gestures. Both the game and the add-in were the subject of an experimental study conducted to evaluate their ease of use and effectiveness. The results proved that the developed add-in is easier to use and more effective than traditional methods used to export building models from modeling platforms into a gaming environment. Moreover, the interactive hologram was able to enhance the human-human interaction between multiple users. Future research will focus on further developing the software and on investigating the use of the holographic experience on job sites.