Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
human detriment. Instead, the computer should take the role of a sophisticated
assistant and automatically process as much information as possible.
Mobile computing implies the following facts:
*
a mobile computer is bound to a specific person;
*
the location of a mobile computer can become a significant piece of
information;
*
the mobile computer (and thus the person) is available anytime, anywhere
during agreed working hours;
*
the person has access to the system anytime, anywhere.
These facts are of utmost importance and the basis for the core potentials of
mobile computing in construction. From the company (or project) view, any
information system in use can improve as follows:
*
information system boundaries extend to the maximum, which means that
information will flow to and from the final destination/origin points without
delays or obstacles;
*
additional information is available from terminal points, such as their position,
user ID, temperature, site image, and so on; in other words, terminals can help
applications to become context sensitive.
From the personal (or actor) view,
the following improvements are
significant:
*
the person can be available anytime, according to her/his role in the relevant
projects;
*
any other actors in relevant projects are available;
*
personal communication can improve significantly through automatic selec-
tion using context parameters (date and time, location, activity, etc.).
A number of research projects and applications have addressed these potentials
and opportunities (Bowden et al., 2006; COMIT, 2003) and have focused on
supporting mobile workers using mobile computing technologies in various
directions, such as inspection-oriented applications (Garrett and Sunkpho, 2000;
Yabuki et al., 2002), navigation through drawings (Reinhardt et al., 2004), on-site
project document queries using digital measurement tools and synchronization
(Hernandez, 2000), web-based punch-list-like applications (Menzel et al., 2002),
pilling operations (Ward et al., 2004), mobile sensoring (Delsing and Lindg-
ren, 2003), and construction site communications and collaboration (Johanson
and T
orlind, 2004; Beyh and Kagioglou, 2004; Kimoto et al., 2005; L
ofgren, 2005;
€
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Kubicki et al., 2006).
Most systems provide static information delivery, with no consideration of the
changing context for workers and the dynamic project conditions. The need for
dynamic synthesis of content and context-sensitive information provision for
mobile workers is not adequately addressed (Aziz et al., 2004).
An extended communication system adaptable to the project and to the user is
one of the possible solutions for improving existing information systems and
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