Data acquisition technologies for construction progress tracking

Falling behind schedule and having discrepancy between the as-built and designed baseline plans are unfavourable events that often occur in construction projects. Hence, real-time progress tracking and monitoring of construction components remains a vital part of project management and is critical to achieving project objectives. Yet manual approaches for progress tracking lack the required accuracy for integration with other construction interfaces. Conversely, automatic progress tracking can result in timely detection of potential time delays and construction discrepancies and directly supports project control decision-making. This paper examines different technologies of automated and electronic construction data collection. In particular, enhanced IT, geo-spatial, 3D imaging, and augmented reality technologies have recently achieved significant advances in this field. Each of these technologies is discussed herein in terms of its advantages and limitations. Comparisons of such technologies to identify various trends concerning their applicability in real-time data acquisition of construction projects are made, along with recommendations for their suitability in different projects. This should assist construction stakeholders in choosing appropriate tools to enhance time and cost effectiveness and achieve better control and more effective decisions during construction. It is also hoped that this review will stimulate further research on and development of these technologies.