Contextual information delivery on construction sites

Abstract

The information-intensive nature of construction projects requires site personnel to have on-demand access to several pieces of construction project data (plans, drawings, schedules, specifications, etc). This paper evaluates the capability of the CIMsteel Integration Standards (CIS/2) product model, and project information systems such as Microsoft Access databases for improving traditional, and manual information retrieval processes by automatically retrieving contextual project information through continuous tracking of mobile users (i.e. engineers, managers, and inspectors). Related experiments were conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) outdoors at the structural steel test bed structure on the main campus, and in the Structural Engineering Laboratory at the University of Michigan. Results highlighted the potential of contextual information access from the aforementioned information repositories in saving time and improving work productivity on construction sites.