**Abstract**

Building Information Modeling is an increasingly common process for managing the entire lifecycle of a building - from design and planning, through the construction phase, to operation and maintenance. The result of this process is a building information model with all the generated data and information about the construction process that can be used in a variety of different end-user scenarios. One such use of the model is in a number of different augmented reality applications. Augmented reality technology is being used to bridge the gap between the digital and real worlds and is rapidly becoming an essential part of modern building data modeling design workflows. The chapter provides an overview of building data modeling and the current state of the art in the use of augmented reality in various user scenarios of building data modeling and explores various challenges that need to be addressed for the adoption of augmented reality technology in architecture, engineering, and construction in general.

**Keywords:** augmented reality, computer integrated engineering, civil engineering, project documentation, construction, building information modeling, BIM

### **1. Introduction**

According to [1], Building Information Modeling (BIM) [2] is a set of technologies, processes and policies enabling multiple stakeholders to collaboratively design, construct and operate a Facility in virtual space. The result of a BIM process is a building information model that a shared digital representation of a built asset to facilitate design, construction and operation processes to form a reliable basis for decisions. The term BIM continues to evolve over the years and is thus best understood as an 'expression of digital innovation' across the construction industry and the overall built environment and is an increasingly common process for managing the entire lifecycle of a building - from design and planning, through the construction phase, to operation and maintenance. As noted by D. Richard and C. Harty [3] highly structured and semantically rich 3D geometry information is in practice used on physical 2D medium, e.g. paper or digital displays. So at the end, basic concepts remain the same even though we now have access to much richer information with BIM models.

As not much has changed on the conceptual model of translating virtual 3D plans into real world structures, engineers still have to rely on their knowledge,

#### **Figure 1.**

*From virtual reality, e.g. BIM model, to real environment.*

experience and spatial awareness to map these virtual plans, that may include 2D drawings (plans, elevations and sections) or 3D models (viewed on a 2D display medium) into real environment (see also **Figure 1**). This challenge has been recognized by different researchers, including P. S. Duston and H. Shin [4] that proposed this mapping process be facilitated by mixing virtual information with the real environment. A technology that enables mixing digital information with the real world environment objects and spaces is called augmented reality (AR) [5].

AR Systems generally consist of three main phases: Data Phase, Computation, and Presentation. The data phase is primarily concerned with the creation, curation, and formatting of data. In the context of BIM related workflows, this means designing a BIM model so that it can be used as a source for augmenting reality. Merging virtual data (3D geometry, specific element information, etc.) and real environments is a computationally intensive phase and can take place on the mobile device or on a remote server. Finally, the display of the mixed visualizations can be done on handheld mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers and (2) head mounted devices. Several AR systems already exist; however, they are mainly used to display proprietary models prepared using specialized custom software, including the software that was used for this research [6].

The chapter provides an overview of building data modeling and the current state of the art in the use of augmented reality in various user scenarios of building data modeling. Specifically, it describes various challenges that need to be addressed as well as a spectrum of different end-user scenarios and use-cases for use of AR technology in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC). As part of the conclusions, the SWOT analysis of using augmented reality system in to context of BIM is also provided.
