**5.3 Use-case 3: office building**

The construction of the industrial complex "Industrial and commercial building Iskra Mehanizmi Brnik" (**Figure 8**) is structurally divided into 3 main blocks: the

### *Augmented Reality and Its Application*

commercial part, which consists of a monolithic reinforced concrete structure and two production and storage units made of prefabricated reinforced concrete.

The use case focuses on the Iskra Mehanizmi office building (**Figure 9**). It is a complex structure that is in the final stages of construction. The example can be

**Figure 8.** *Iskra Mehanizmi Brnik industrial complex.*

**Figure 9.** *The site situation/implementation plan. Top right is the newly constructed Iskra Mehanizmi office building.*

*Using Augmented Reality in Different BIM Workflows DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99336*

used to demonstrate the use of AR technology at different lifecycle stages (see also **Figure 2**). A complete common data environment was available for the project, which contained various 3D models BIM with all associated information, allowing the use of AR.

The model BIM supports geometric and non-geometric design information such as location through geo-referencing (3D) and technical specifications (4D) from door and window manufacturers as well as maintenance information (5D) (**Figure 10a**). The convergence between the 3D model BIM and the AR (**Figure 10b**) is practically done through three main components: the 3D model BIM itself, the whole readout and the transformation of the data for interpretation in augmented reality through an appropriate application on a mobile device, in this case a tablet was used. To enable visualization on the AR platform, the 3D model BIM sends and receives information BIM, such as installation adjustment requirements and work plan review, allowing the user to interact with the 3D model BIM and other members of the

#### **Figure 10.**

*Using an AR system - (a) location used for geospatial reference, (b) positioning/orienting/scaling the BIM model, (c) accessing associated tasks for current location, (d) information data request, (e) checking specific information of a BIM object, (f) accessing construction details.*

project team in real time (**Figure 10c**). BIM models are created based on 2D design drawings and with information included in the design specifications according to the client's requirements. In this case, there is a marker (orange rectangle) that refers to the requested information (**Figure 10d**). After clicking on the orange rectangle, a new window immediately opens with the details of the information in a 2D drawing with comments about the location, the type of installations performed, and what needs to be done to complete the jobs (**Figure 10e**). The levels of construction details included in the same information can be structural, architectural, MEP installations or others required to complete the project (**Figure 10f**).

One of the main objectives for the use case was also to test the use of AR inside a building, where it is usually impossible to collect GPS signals for geolocation of the stand position. The mobile solution used in the example, AR [6], uses a manual geolocation method where the user (1) selects an approximate position in the 2D plane and (2) rotates and scales the 3D model based on reference points (windows, doors, columns, etc.).

Key takeaways: (1) determining geolocation within a building can be challenging and different AR may take different approaches to solve this, (2) positioning and scaling a BIM model in the AR system is possible due to the available reference points, (3) BIM models are usually more complete for buildings compared to infrastructure objects (bridges, tunnels, etc.), therefore the AR system can make better use of the available information.
