Taking Advantage of Collective Intelligence and BIM-Based Virtual Reality in Fire Safety Inspection for Commercial and Public Buildings

Abstract

Commercial and public buildings are more vulnerable to fires because of their complex use functions, large number of centralized occupants, and the dynamic nature of the use of space. Due to the large number of these types of buildings and the limited availability of manpower, annual fire inspections cannot ensure the continuous compliance of fire codes. A crowdsourcing application, iInspect, is proposed in this paper to harvest collective intelligence in order to conduct mass inspection tasks. This approach is supported by building information modeling (BIM) based virtual reality (VR) and an indoor real-time localization system. Based on the International Fire Code and 27 fire inspection checklists compiled by various local authorities, a generic list of inspection items suitable for iInspect is proposed, along with a reputation-based monetary incentive model. A prototype of iInspect was created for Android mobile phones, and a case study was performed in an office building in Tianjin, China, for verification of this crowdsourcing inspection approach.

A bibliometric and scientometric review of research on crowdsourcing in smart cities

“…Some researchers have compared the effectiveness of nonmonetary and monetary incentive mechanisms through field experiments using quantitative and qualitative methods to help create and organise effective payment-based incentives to encourage participation [92]. Zhang et al [12] proposed a reputation-based monetary incentive model for the iInspect mobile app in which a task worker will gain a higher Reputation Score (RS) when he/she takes on more inspection tasks and produces high-quality inspection reports. The actual amount of money earned is the product of a base amount and the RS, which means that a user with a higher RS will earn more money than other users when performing the same inspection task.…”

“…Crowdsourcing is a portmanteau to describe how individuals are turned from passive data consumers into active working consumers or data collectors [11]. In the scope of smart cities, crowdsourcing is an ICT‐mediated phenomenon, meaning that a form of ICT is always used to create tasks, gain access to large groups of people, collect raw data or human mark‐ups that are submitted by individuals, execute some city‐related functions, and provide feedback to the people in the crowd [12].…”

Overview of research on fire effects in RC elements and assessment of RC structures after fire

“…It is important to determine the current structural condition before the start of repair and renovation of structures damaged in fire. Presently available information and technologies enable better resolution of structural fire issues, as well as better education about procedures to be taken before and after a fire event [41]. Nondestructive testing methods (NDT) have recently been increasingly used for assessing condition of reinforced-concrete structures.…”

Special Issue on BIM in the Construction Industry

“…Lee, proposes a framework to automatically analyze, generate, and visualize the evacuation paths of multiple crews in 4D BIM, considering construction activities and site conditions at the specific project schedule [8]. The second one, authored by D. Zhang, J. Zhang, H. Xiong, Z. Cui and D. Lu, proposes a crowdsourcing application, iInspect, which can be used to recruit members of the general public to carry out fire safety inspection tasks with the assistance of BIM + VR and an indoor real-time location system [9]. The above two articles are applied in the construction stage, and the last two articles are focused on fire safety management in the operation stage.…”