Structure of an Extensible Augmented Reality Framework for Visualization of Simulated Construction Processes

The presented work describes the recent research being conducted by the authors in the field of visualization of simulated construction processes. The underlying uncertainty involved in almost all construction operations makes it necessary to study and analyze the behavior of the acting resources in more detail and under different scenarios in order to come up with the most efficient method to perform a set of tasks and obtain the best possible result. Simulation and visualization of planned construction processes are powerful tools to achieve this objective. This paper focuses on the application of augmented reality (AR) for visualizing simulated construction processes in both outdoor and indoor environments and compares it to methods of visualizing modeled processes in pure virtual reality (VR). An AR framework and extensible class library are also introduced which can be used to verify and validate the results of simulation models and can be further applied to develop new AR systems