Designing a novel virtual collaborative environment to support collaboration in design review meetings

Project review meetings are part of the project management process and are organised to assess progress and resolve any design conflicts to avoid delays in construction. One of the key challenges during a project review meeting is to bring the stakeholders together and use this time effectively to address design issues as quickly as possible. At present, current technology solutions based on BIM or CAD are information-centric and do not allow project teams to collectively explore the design from a range of perspectives and brainstorm ideas when design conflicts are encountered. This paper presents a system architecture that can be used to support multi-functional team collaboration more effectively during such design review meetings. The proposed architecture illustrates how information-centric BIM or CAD systems can be made human- and team-centric to enhance team communication and problem solving. An implementation of the proposed system architecture has been tested for its utility, likability and usefulness during design review meetings. The evaluation results suggest that the collaboration platform has the potential to enhance collaboration among multi-functional teams

Interoperability specification development for integrated BIM use in performance based design

Interoperability in BIM is low and the focus is on 3D coordination. Despite the available standards including IFC and IDM, there is still no clear guidance how such standards can be effectively used for performance based design. Thus, early collaboration is discouraged and performance analysis is conducted as late as possible to minimize the number of information exchanges, leading to difficulties and costly changes in design that is almost completed. The aim is to propose an interoperability specification development approach for performance based design through the Design4Energy case study project. Findings show that the design process had increased flexibility, shared understanding between stakeholders about what information nuggets should be provided from whom to whom, at what stage, using which tool and data model. It can guide for the integrated BIM practice and help developing BIM execution plans for Level 2 BIM while paving the way for Level 3 BIM

A review of post-study and post-task subjective questionnaires to guide assessment of system usability

Usability is a key consideration when developing an interactive software application because of the various outcomes it can produce. Accordingly, numerous evaluation methods have been proposed, however, a recent review of usability methods concluded there is no current consensus on models applied to usability. While questionnaires are a commonly used measure, it is unclear which questionnaire(s) are most appropriate for a given context, so new usability researchers face confusion over which to select. To aid questionnaire selection, the appropriate type (post-study or post-task), general structure and content, specific advantages and disadvantages, aspects of usability covered, and psychometric quality should be considered. This paper presents a literature review and analysis of general post-study and post-task usability measures. Questionnaires are weighed up and discussed on each aspect, so practitioners can gain a holistic overview and identify relative strengths of individual questionnaires within their questionnaire type. Overall recommendations and specific questionnaire suggestions are provided for guidance, along with how future research can expand the review

A mixed reality telepresence system for collaborative space operation

This paper presents a Mixed Reality system that results from the integration of a telepresence system and an application to improve collaborative space exploration. The system combines free viewpoint video with immersive projection technology to support non-verbal communication, including eye gaze, inter-personal distance and facial expression. Importantly, these can be interpreted together as people move around the simulation, maintaining natural social distance. The application is a simulation of Mars, within which the collaborators must come to agreement over, for example, where the Rover should land and go. The first contribution is the creation of a Mixed Reality system supporting contextualization of non-verbal communication. Tw technological contributions are prototyping a technique to subtract a person from a background that may contain physical objects and/or moving images, and a light weight texturing method for multi-view rendering which provides balance in terms of visual and temporal quality. A practical contribution is the demonstration of pragmatic approaches to sharing space between display systems of distinct levels of immersion. A research tool contribution is a system that allows comparison of conventional authored and video based reconstructed avatars, within an environment that encourages exploration and social interaction. Aspects of system quality, including the communication of facial expression and end-to-end latency are reported

Collaborative virtual reality platform for visualizing space data and mission planning

This paper presents the system architecture of a collaborative virtual environment in which distributed multidisciplinary teams involved in space exploration activities come together and explore areas of scientific interest of a planet for future missions. The aim is to reduce the current challenges of distributed scientific and engineering meetings that prevent the exploitation of their collaborative potential, as, at present, expertise, tools and datasets are fragmented. This paper investigates the functional characteristics of a software framework that addresses these challenges following the design science research methodology in the context of the space industry and research. An implementation of the proposed architecture and a validation process with end users, based on the execution of different use cases, are described. These use cases cover relevant aspects of real science analysis and operation, including planetary data visualization, as the system aims at being used in future European missions. This validation suggests that the system has the potential to enhance the way space scientists will conduct space science research in the future

Measuring community disaster resilience at local levels : an adaptable resilience framework

Decision makers, practitioners and community members need to assess the disaster resilience of their communities and to understand better the risks they face from natural hazards. There is a lack of consensus on what resilience means and how it can be measured as each stakeholder potentially brings a different perspective to understanding community disaster resilience. The paper will identify the key features and characteristics of Community Disaster Resilience (CDR) frameworks from the literature to develop a resilience framework that can be adapted and customised according to stakeholder needs. The paper used a 5-step process to develop an adaptable CDR framework. First, a review of 36 resilience frameworks was conducted to identify key features and characteristics of resilience frameworks. In Steps 2 and 3, a matrix of indicators and measures was populated by resilience dimensions covered in the current CDR literature reviewed. Subsequently, the indicators were sorted for similarities and duplicates were removed. Finally, they were clustered by six critical resilience dimensions (i.e. Physical, Health, Economic, Environmental, Social and Governance) into a library of 86 resilience indicators (composed of 360 measures) that can be used to operationalize a CDR framework according to the needs of the stakeholders. The review indicated that majority of the articles selected use objective approaches to measure resilience showing a gap for more frameworks using subjective, or participatory, approaches to measuring community resilience. An adaptable CDR framework may make resilience assessment more grounded in local stakeholder perspectives and lead to a better understanding of community resilience

Mapping participatory methods in the urban development process : a systematic review and case-based evidence analysis

Despite the fact that vulnerable communities are the most affected by unplanned cities, considerably less attention has been given to involving them in urban development in order to ensure equitable outcomes. In this regard, there is an urgent need for governments to introduce and enforce processes that allow citizens, including vulnerable communities, to participate in development planning and policymaking. However, at present, there is a lack of guidance for practitioners regarding the definition of a clear purpose of community engagement and the selection of appropriate participatory methods to fulfil the set purpose. This study provides a thorough account of the participatory methods that can be used to achieve various engagement goals throughout the urban development process. This structured literature review used 71 reports published from 2000 to 2020. The review revealed 34 participatory methods, wherein most of the methods are devoted to informing, consulting and involving communities, whilst only a few methods are available for interactive public participation that supports true collaboration and empowerment. The study identified 12 purposes of community engagement in urban development, and mapped the 34 participatory methods for achieving them. The analysed case studies showed that the current community engagement practices are mainly in the pre-design and briefing stages of the urban development processes, and that most projects are aiming to achieve the ‘inform’ and ‘consult’ levels of engagement, with a few aiming to achieve the ‘involve’ and ‘collaborate’ levels. This study shows that community engagement is often overlooked during the professional design, development and post-development phases. The paper presents an onion model which can be used by practitioners to choose appropriate participatory methods based on the intended urban development phase, the engagement level and the purpose of the community engagement

Advanced technologies for offering situational intelligence in flood warning and response systems : a literature review

Deaths and property damage from floods have increased drastically in the past two 9 decades due to various reasons such as increased population, unplanned development and climate 10 change. Such losses from floods can be reduced by issuing timely early warnings and through 11 effective response mechanisms, based on situational intelligence during emerging flood situations. 12 This paper presents the outcome of a literature review that was conducted to identify the types and 13 sources of intelligence required for flood warning and response processes as well as the technology 14 solutions that can be used for offering such intelligence. Twenty-seven different types of intelligence 15 are presented, together with the technologies that can be used to extract such intelligence. 16 Furthermore, a conceptual architecture, that illustrates how relevant technology solutions can be 17 used to extract intelligence at various stages of a flood cycle for decision-making for issuing early 18 warnings and planning responses, is presented