Visualization of construction progress monitoring with 4D simulation model overlaid on time-lapsed photographs

The ability to effectively communicate progress information and represent as-built and as-planned progress discrepancies are identified as key components for successful project management that allow corrective decisions to be made in a timely manner. However, current formats of reporting (e.g., textual progress reports, progress curves, and photographs) may not properly and quickly communicate project progress. Current monitoring methods also require manual data collection and extensive data extraction from different construction documents, which distract managers from the important task of decision making. Therefore, to facilitate progress monitoring, this paper proposes visualization of performance metrics that aims to represent progress deviations through superimposition of four-dimensional (4D) as-planned model over time-lapsed photographs in single and comprehensive visual imagery. As a part of the developed system, registration of the 4D model with photographs, augmenting photographs, and occlusion removal for progress images are presented. While contextual information is preserved, the as-built photographs are enhanced and augmented with 4D as-planned model in which the performance metrics are visualized. The augmented photographs provide a consistent platform for representing as-planned, as-built, and progress discrepancies information and facilitate communication and reporting processes.