Locating Building Components in a Facility Using Augmented Reality vs. Paper-Based Methods: A User-Centered Experimental Comparison
Masoud Gheisari, Graceline Williams, Bruce N. Walker, Javier Irizarry · Computing in Civil and Building Engineering (2014) · 2014
The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry and, specifically, the facility management domain are searching for new methods for increasing maintenance efficiency and productivity where critical decisions are constantly made to maintain the facility. New digital technologies are capable of enhancing this decision-making process by providing better means of accessing required information. In this research, BIM - together with mobile Augmented Reality (AR) - has been used for developing a system to access building information in facilities. AR has been considered as a viable option to replace the current approach of locating facility components using paper-based corrective/preventive maintenance work orders. The AR method was also assumed to reduce inefficiencies of data overload by providing facility managers with a BIM-based tool for visualizing their "real-world" environment with added interactive data. The hypothesis of this research is that bringing 3D BIM models of building components into an AR environment and making them accessible through handheld mobile devices would help the facility managers to locate those components easier and faster compared to facility managers' current approach of paper-based preventive/corrective maintenance work orders. A within-subjects user participation experiment and analysis was conducted to evaluate this hypothesis. The outcome of statistical analysis revealed that mobile AR-based environment would significantly enhance locating the right object in the facility in terms of the required time and number of errors. Although there were drift and registration problems while conducting the experiment, participants significantly preferred the AR condition to the paper one.