An Integration of Wi-Fi Based Locating System and GIS for Improving Construction Labour Communications

Locating construction equipment and workers during construction are critical for improving safety and productivity. The current indoor locating practices employ real time locating systems to provide alerts when workers expose to safety risks in a construction site. These studies assess risks based on the distance of the worker from hazard using probability analysis. However, less attention has been paid to improve two-ways communication between workers and supervisors in conjunction with tracking them in a 3D environment for forensic purposes and performance analysis. The aim of this study is to develop a Wi-Fi-based positioning and communicating system in corporation with indoor positioning, radio communication systems which is called the Voice Communication and Locating System (VCLS). The BIM and GIS are used for displaying the positions of mobile devices for tracking the workers in a proposed area. The system development process includes determination of the functionalities of VCLS components and the interrelationships between them presenting a 3D environment. A series of experiments are conducted at a current facility at the University of NSW. The initial results of this on-going study show that VCLS provides the utility of the system for tracking the approximate locations of workers in 3D environment. Trailing the integration of VCLS and GIS is extremely valuable to construction users, because it increases the communication quality and efficiency of their interaction in the construction site.