Technological Assessment and Process Implications of Field Data Capture Technologies for Construction and Facility/infrastructure Management

Collection of accurate, complete and reliable field data is not only essential for active management of construction projects involving many tasks, such as material tracking, progress monitoring and quality assurance tasks; but also for facility/infrastructure management during the service life of facilities and infrastructure systems. Limitations of current manual data collection approaches in terms of speed, completeness and accuracy, and implications of these limitations for construction management practice are discussed by many researchers. Advancements in field data capture technologies (such as smart tags, laser scanners, and embedded sensors) enable collecting, storing and reusing field data accurately, completely and reliably. We show that while these technologies are capable of streamlining the associated processes, their performances differ from the manufacturers’ specifications when utilized on construction sites due to issues, such as interference, data reading range, data accuracy, interoperability of hardware and software, and memory limitations. In addition, while these technologies eliminate some non-value adding tasks associated with corresponding project management processes, they can also add new tasks that need to be performed prior to, during, or after the utilization of a technology at the field. Hence, a thorough understanding of both the technological capabilities and process implications of these technologies is needed to be able to utilize them effectively during construction and service life of facilities.