InfoSPOT: A mobile Augmented Reality method for accessing building information through a situation awareness approach

The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Owner/Operator (AECO) industry is constantly searching for new methods for increasing efficiency and productivity. Facility Managers (FMs), as a part of the owner/operator role, work in complex and dynamic environments where critical decisions are constantly made. This decision-making process and its consequent performance can be improved by enhancing Situation Awareness (SA) of the FMs through new digital technologies. In this paper, InfoSPOT (Information Surveyed Point for Observation and Tracking), is recommended to FMs as a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) tool for accessing information about the facilities they maintain. AR has been considered as a viable option to reduce inefficiencies of data overload by providing FMs with a SA-based tool for visualizing their “real-world” environment with added interactive data. A prototype of the AR application was developed and a user participation experiment and analysis conducted to evaluate the features of InfoSPOT. This innovative application of AR has the potential to improve construction practices, and in this case, facility management.

► We developed a low-cost Mobile AR-based tool (InfoSPOT) for Facility Managers.
► InfoSPOT reduces the data overload inefficiencies in facility management domain.
► Real subjects provided positive feedbacks after using InfoSPOT in an experiment.
► Drift problem was the main challenge while developing and evaluating InfoSPOT.