Kang, J H; Anderson, S D and Clayton, M J (2007) Empirical study on the merit of web-based 4D visualization in collaborative construction planning and scheduling. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 133(6), pp. 447-461. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This paper reports an empirical study that tested the usefulness of Web-based four-dimensional (4D) construction visualization in collaborative construction planning and scheduling. Several recent construction projects have employed 4D visualization to better understand the construction schedule and make proactive decisions to prevent logical errors in the construction sequence. Other groups have shown that construction information management with asynchronous Web-based communication can improve decision making among dispersed industry practitioners. It seems reasonable to anticipate that combining 4D visualization with Web-based information management would facilitate dispersed industry practitioners to make collaborative decisions for construction planning and scheduling. The empirical study presented here reports how experiment participants at separate locations collaboratively detected logical errors in a construction schedule when the 4D visualization model of the schedule was represented on the Web browser. Our results show that teams using 4D models detected logical errors more frequently, faster, with fewer mistakes, and with less team communication, than teams using 2D drawings and bar charts. These findings show industry practitioners empirical evidence that Web-based 4D construction visualization can improve team collaboration on construction planning and scheduling.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | computer aided scheduling; empirical equations; imaging techniques; internet |
| Index terms: | 4D visualization, empirical study, construction planning, internet, scheduling, team collaboration, experiment, drawing, practitioner, evidence, decision-making, construction project, visualization |
| Subjects: | construction planning, visualization, technical documentation, operations research, practitioner, computing systems, evaluation and assessment methods, data collection methods, collaborative management, decision analysis, production management, design practice, research methods |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Project Management, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Time Control, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here