Digital Info Screen - A Visual Management Tool for Construction Workers

Abstract

The Info screen development is part of wider research project where automated data collection of site operations and processing the data for provision of role-specific and contextualized information to targeted professions to fulfil the predicted information needs are being studied. The specific objective of the research work reported in this article is to arrive at a suitable user interface design that is easy to use and provides contextualized useful information for the construction workers. A Digital Visual Management method is proposed to share dedicated information to workers at construction sites with digital Info screens. The concept development has focused on information needs in drywall installation and the coordination of needed work phases. The information needs and barriers have been earlier studied with interviews of drywall installers to select and define information contents for Info screens. The Visual Management methods have been applied for this purpose and digital tools aspects are investigated especially. In visualization on the screen, the 3D-view of Building Information Model (BIM) has been used as a basis to present the information. In the user interface most information types are presented in relation to the geometry of the building and visualized with BIM 3D-view. The preliminary results from the user testing with the help of structured interviews on usefulness & ease of use of the prototype are encouraging