Research Information System
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, vol.34, no.1, pp.19-36, 2007 (SCI-Expanded)
Quality of communication is a key factor in the success of construction projects. Visualization technologies can play an important role in improving the quality of data by improving human comprehension and increasing the depth of the information delivered. Visualization has for some time been identified as one of the major technology themes allowing development of construction processes. However, visualization has not been embraced as a strategic toot by construction companies, and they generally fail to take full advantage of available visualization tools. This paper aims to evaluate the extent of visualization as a communication tool in the construction industry and to determine potential benefits to be gained through implementation of visualization. The current state of the use of visualization for communication in Turkish architecture, engineering, and construction companies is mapped through surveys and interviews. Information flow contents and types are analysed to determine the types of information in the construction process that may benefit from visual representation. According to the priorities of the expectations ranked by the users and the potential of different visualization tools, the level of visualization required for each data flow is determined by a quality function deployment (QFD) based approach.