Exploring BIM and Mobile Augmented Reality Use in Facilities Management

Abstract

With the facility management industry increasingly adopting Building Information Modeling (BIM) technologies, there is a need to investigate where this industry stands in its application. Moreover, studies on efficient and cost-effective solutions to integrate BIM and Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) present an environment where facility managers can experience an intuitive natural interaction with their mobile interfaces to efficiently access their required information. The industry's view on this new approach of accessing information from BIM models should also be investigated and its feedback should be considered for future phases of this avenue of research. This paper explores not only how BIM can be beneficial to facility management practitioners, but also how its integration with MAR and making the data accessible through handheld mobile devices can enhance current facility management practices. An online survey was conducted to assess professional facility managers' characteristics, technology use and working environment as well as the current status of BIM application in their practices. An online video scenario has also been used to illustrate to facility managers how a BIM-MAR integrated environment can provide them with mobile access to their required information. Facility managers' feedback on usability, applicability, and challenges of such environment has also been investigated through a follow-up survey. With this study, industry practitioners as well as academic researchers will be able to understand the current status of BIM and mobile computing application in facility management along with the benefits and challenges of implementing these technologies in an augmented reality environment. INTRODUCTIONBuilding Information Modeling (BIM) is the process of developing and using 3D representations of building objects together with their related properties and relationship with other objects in the building. Advances in Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) point to BIM as the new standard

Supporting Facility Management Processes through End-Users’ Integration and Coordinated BIM-GIS Technologies

“…One of the next steps of research will be the study of the overall costs needed to implement the systems considering IT structure, devices, and virtual components (including models and data). In this direction, laser scanning and augmented reality for indoor navigation are potentially beneficial for the improvement of the support for maintenance operators and facility managers [60].…”

Mixed Reality Tools as an Enabler for Improving Operation and Maintenance in Small and Medium Enterprises

“…To evaluate how applicable different visualisation tools are, the stakeholder requirements for implementation and use must first be considered. [2] highlighted the main issues for implementation of BIM and mobile AR in FM. Issues relevant to technology were cost, lack of BIM models, lack of BIM-trained personnel and interoperability.…”

“…MR refers to technology that enhances reality by integrating it with the digital world, such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and spherical panoramas. AR and VR are becoming increasingly commonplace and research shows they could be effectively applied to support Small and Medium enterprise (SME) O&M [2] [3]. This paper introduces the use of spherical panoramas (a.k.a.…”

Trending Technologies for Indoor Fm: Looking for “Geo” in Information

“…System also gathers performance data from sensors in real-time that saved 8% of time at field tasks. According to a survey of information technologies used in facility management (FM), conducted by Gheisari et al (2014), FM professionals generally (92%) use electronic format files such as Pdf, word to exchange information and the percentage of use of 2D/3D CAD/BIM is 39%. Their knowledge level of BIM was also found 60%, which indicates that FM Professionals are aware of BIMs.…”