Using virtual reality to facilitate communication in the AEC domain: a systematic review

Abstract

Purpose The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry exists in a dynamic environment and requires several stakeholders to communicate regularly. However, evidence indicates current communication practices fail to meet the requirements of increasingly complex projects. With the advent of Industry 4.0, a trend is noted to create a digital communication environment between stakeholders. Identified as a central technology in Industry 4.0, virtual reality (VR) has the potential to supplement current communication and facilitate the digitization of the AEC industry. This paper aims to explore how VR has been applied and future research directions for communication purpose. Design/methodology/approach This research follows a systematic literature assessment methodology to summarize the results of 41 research articles in the last 15 years and outlines the applications of VR in facilitating communication in the AEC domain. Findings Relevant VR applications are mainly found in building inspection, facility management, safety training, construction education and design and review. Communication tools and affordance are provided or built in several forms: text-based tools, voice chat tool, visual sharing affordance and avatars. Objective and subjective communication assessments are observed from those publications. Originality/value This review contributes to identifying the recent employment areas and future research directions of VR to facilitate communication in the AEC domain. The outcome can be a practical resource to guide both industry professionals and researchers to recognize the potentials of VR and will ultimately facilitate the creation of digital construction environments.

Integration of BIM and Immersive Technologies for AEC: A Scientometric-SWOT Analysis and Critical Content Review

“…An unconstrained and unconstructed search was done initially for finding the relevant publications in the field of amalgamation of BIM and ImT's in the AEC industry. The relevant keywords were extracted based on publications investigation and authors' experience, following by a literature search, a two-way process, namely database search and supplementary search [165]. The keywords found during an unconstructed search assist in database searching, and a supplementary search was done based on publications from unconstrained and database search.…”

Toward Facilitating Team Formation and Communication Through Avatar Based Interaction in Desktop-Based Immersive Virtual Environments

“…Online 3D environments can provide remote presence to inclass lectures and a medium for discussions for those unable to attend physically (Isaacs and Tang, 1997). Additionally, these environments facilitate various activities, experiments, and explorations in virtual worlds that would be too costly, dangerous, or simply impossible in the physical world (Eiris et al, 2020;Wen and Gheisari, 2020). The use of avatars in learning environments has been investigated in this context.…”

Towards the implementation of immersive technology in construction – a SWOT Analysis

“…This identified the constraints that influence ease of use and ability to utilise across many applications. For example, Wen & Gheisari (2020) explain the skills required to script virtual worlds, whereas Delgado et al (2020) confirm that existing software limits the ability to share and collaborate within virtual worlds easily. Consequently, many of the identified sub-themes describe a weakness that acts as a catalyst when brought into a construction environment.…”

“…Time and resources required to effectively implement technology 9 22 "The first challenge was the complex scripting process required to build games" (Wen & Gheisari, 2020).…”