Touran, A (1981) Construction operations data acquisition and processing via time-lapse photography interfaced to a minicomputer. PhD thesis, Stanford University, USA.
Abstract
This study deals with creation of a system for computerized data acquisition and reduction in the construction industry. An interactive computer system has been developed for collecting and statistically preprocessing data pertaining to construction operations into a form usable by available simulation and planning systems. The input to the system is frame-counts corresponding to initiation and termination of contruction activities extracted from time-lapse films. The inputs required for most analytical management tools in construction are activity duration times and cycles. The current method for extracting these duration times from time-lapse films is manual, tedious and time consuming. A comprehensive, economical and convenient method for data collection and reduction has not been available until now. This existing gap between the source of the raw data and the controlling systems motivated this research. To develop the system the following steps have been taken: (1) An interface between a time-lapse projector and a PDP11/34 computer system has been developed to expedite and facilitate the process of acquiring the raw data from the time-lapse films. (2) The computer programs that form the system have been made interactive. Human factors considerations have been implemented in the design of the system. The intended users of the system are civil engineers and college students. The system has been made "forgiving" in case users err. (3) All the different elements of the system (computer routines) have been interconnected to form an integrated system. (4) A statistical package for analysis of the collected data has been converted for interactive use on the minicomputer. This package has been further modified to perform tests of hypotheses for the underlying statistical distributions of a data set. The output data from the system is in the form of construction activity duration times. If adequate input data is provided, the statistical distribution of the data set can be estimated by use of the statistical package and statistical parameters of the population computed to be used in simulation models.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction activity; duration; population; integrated system; civil engineer; simulation |
| Index terms: | civil engineer, computer system, routine, human factor, population, construction activity, construction operation, package, college student, construction industry, duration, integrated system, data acquisition, computer program |
| Subjects: | profession, data collection methods, computing systems, design methods, contractual arrangements, construction operations, software systems, project controls, occupational health and safety management, demography, sociology, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Procurement, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Time Control, Site Management, Organizational Design, Urban Studies, Digital Applications, Design Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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