BIM2MAR: An Efficient BIM Translation to Mobile Augmented Reality Applications

Abstract

Mobile augmented reality (MAR) provides an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use method of accessing information in an intuitive way by visually parsing the environment and relating information in the form of augmentations to specific objects in specific places through handheld mobile devices. With the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry widely adopting building information modeling (BIM) technologies, this research contributes an efficient and cost-effective solution to integrate BIM into MAR by developing a method and workflow that practitioners can use to consolidate, optimize, and visualize their data and models in an MAR environment. Moreover, a real-world application of this method, called BIM2MAR, within facility management practices is described in this paper. In the future, this research will investigate the integration of the BIM2MAR method into cloud computing, as well as conducting user-centered evaluation.