Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality in Practice

Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) tools, once limited to the entertainment sector, entered slowly into the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries over the last decade. Additionally, wearable products, such as Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, have led to a new category of technology: mixed reality (MR). Together, these powerful technologies can immerse project stakeholders into a 3D data-rich digital environment to rapidly convey spatial relationships of project data such as subsurface conditions and location of underground utilities. Despite potential applications of these technologies and recent reductions in hardware and software costs, AR/VR/MR tools have been largely limited to tradeshow marketing and architectural presentations. Although these technologies have been successfully employed on many large infrastructure projects, several technological barriers and social trends have limited adoption within the geotechnical industry. For example, most commercial AR/VR/MR software generally lacks an automated pipeline from engineering design documents to the digital model, preventing real-time communication between designers and other project stakeholders. Additionally, the AEC industry has largely focused on using expensive and limited-purpose hardware, rather than utilizing the full potential of devices that stakeholders already own, such as smartphones and tablets. Here, we present several use cases where AR/VR/MR may improve engineering cognition on typical medium-sized projects. These cases illuminate some opportunities for quick and easy adoption of these technologies as well as highlight key barriers to use.