Collaborative Scheduling with 4D extended to Virtual Reality

Paper in proceeding, 2020

Construction planning and scheduling processes have been relatively unchanged until the last decades when 4D-planning has been promoted along with the rise of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Some 4D-systems have been developed for visualising schedules rather than to aid in the actual creation of the schedule. In contrast, some scheduling software in more recent years has been enhanced with 4D-modeling capabilities. Furthermore, the use
of BIM-viewers during scheduling partly enables both design and schedule review before construction. This paper aims to show how an alternative approach to 4D-modelling could be used to produce schedules. The paper presents a prototype software for planning and scheduling where the production-schedule is created directly from the model in a lean construction Last Planner manner from the building components. Findings from evaluations of the prototype indicate a move of 4D-modelling from a passive visualisation to an active modelling process. This move enables knowledge to be created and exchanged in the social co-creation context of the 4D-schedule by the stakeholders. The co-creation and understanding can be further enhanced with the extension into virtual reality using head-mounted displays where the 4D-schedule can be created and reviewed directly.