Understanding the Technical and Cognitive Challenges, and Closing the Gaps in Architectural, Engineering, Construction-Facility Management Standards

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School of Engineering | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2018-01-19
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Date

2017

Department

Rakennustekniikan laitos
Department of Civil Engineering

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Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

136 + app. 11

Series

Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 247/2017

Abstract

The Architecture Engineering Construction-Facilities Management (AEC-FM) industry is complex, involving many actors from different domains. This brings the need for utilization of digital data coming from different digital sources. Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools can generate and process the standardized digital data format. However, the exchanged digital data may not provide all the relevant information that is required for the range of dynamic tasks. Consequently, additional data needs to be included and exchanged separately which generates resistance to full adoption and implementation of standardized solutions and frameworks. If project stakeholders do not understand the requirements of standards well enough, the corresponding data may not necessarily be useful for the project. In contrast, if the usage and usability factors are well-planned, the end-users may still be able to utilize relevant data without the need to know the extensive technical details. To achieve the balance between generic standards applicable to the wider domain and still meet the unique requirements of the industry, standards may need to be augmented by IT solutions that allow customization for extended functionalities.  The above statement raises a generic question for a conceptual and theoretical understanding of the overall standardization and digitalization efforts in the AEC-FM industry. The primary interest of this research addresses this problem with a multidisciplinary approach by focusing on human cognition, visual perception and human-computer interaction (HCI). This research investigates the conceptual and theoretical aspects of the evolution of such standards, and the challenges associated with their usability and wider adoption across expert and non-expert users. Another motivation of this research is presented with a technical contribution that addresses the needs and requirements of a generic, flexible and scalable data integration, management, and interoperability platform for the AEC-FM industry while positioning the user-centric design approach at its core. Both theoretical and technical outcomes of this research are grounded with the iterative steps of design thinking and agile development process. The usability challenges are evaluated and addressed with human cognition and visual perception principles.  The validation of this research have been performed with the Finnish industry partners with research workshops, focus group meetings, hackathons and preliminary tests. The feedback from the industry representatives indicate the validity of the theoretical and technical output of this research which was seen as a novel and innovative approach to address a long-standing issue of technical and non user-friendly applications in AEC-FM digitalization in general.

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Supervising professor

Singh, Vishal, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Civil Engineering, Finland

Thesis advisor

Singh, Vishal, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Civil Engineering, Finland

Keywords

building information modeling, facility management, information visualization, standards, linked building data, cognitive, visual perception

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https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-7768-0

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[diss] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG