How Virtual Reality Will Change Construction
Will virtual reality ever really come to affect our day-to-day lives? And aside from consumer applications, are there ways in which VR can be utilized for business? For example, we wonder if we will see construction managers and superintendents going on-site checks by stepping onto the old holodeck one day. While managing a construction project may not be life-or-death, it's certainly an adventuresome profession, and the reality is that virtual reality as a construction technology tool is nothing new. Ideas for the technology now known as Building Information Modeling (BIM) were being discussed as early as the 1970s, and the first BIM software debuted in 1987 in the form of a program called ArchiCAD. The advantages of BIM over traditional blueprints or even structural models were quickly apparent. By building a 3-D structure on-screen, architects and construction managers can move through its rooms. This allowed various parties to envision the shape of an evolving project and eas...