State of Art on Site Space Modeling in Construction Projects

Limited space availability is a common issue faced by construction projects and it has great impact on project productivity and safety performance. Effective management of space is challenging due to the highly dynamic and complex nature of construction site environment. Among them is space modeling, i.e. how to capture and visualize the time-phased site space that is constantly evolving. This paper reviews the state-of-art in space modeling studies in thirty publications. These studies are comparatively evaluated based on their methodology, technology basis, applications, maturity, and implementation. Manual processes and techniques have been traditionally used to document as-built site conditions. New space modeling has evolved from this manual, subjective, and 2D format to a more accurate, automated, and integrated approach using technologies, such as photo-modeling, 3D laser scanning, point cloud modeling, and building information modeling. This review provides a better understanding of major shifts of technologies and applications in space modeling research, meanwhile identifies promising areas for future research.