Ubiquitous location tracking for context-specific information delivery on construction sites: Fid-Bau Portal

Ubiquitous location tracking for context-specific information delivery on construction sites

Behzadan, Amir H. / Aziz, Zeeshan / Anumba, Chimay J. / Kamat, Vineet R.

AbstractConstruction projects are information-intensive in nature and require site personnel to have continuous on-demand access to information such as project plans, drawings, schedules, and budgets. Awareness of a user's context (such as user profile, role, preferences, task, and existing project conditions) can enhance the construction project delivery process by providing a mechanism to determine information relevant to a particular context. Context awareness can also be used to improve security, logistics and health and safety practices on construction sites. Location is an important aspect of context awareness. A location aware application can utilize the knowledge of the user/object location to provide relevant information and services. This paper argues that a successful and reliable location tracking system must be able to track a user's spatial context and deliver contextual data continuously in both outdoor and indoor environments to effectively support construction projects. Research describing the use of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) for indoor tracking and Global Positioning System (GPS) for outdoor spatial context tracking is presented, and an integrated tracking technique using WLAN and GPS for ubiquitous location sensing is introduced. The key benefits and technical challenges of such an integrated approach are also highlighted. The presented tracking techniques have been validated in both indoor and outdoor environments to ensure their practical implementation on real construction jobsites.