Construction Field Data Acquisition with Pen‐Based Computers

This paper describes a research project sponsored by an industrial partner to design a system that automates the process of acquiring field construction data. A survey of field supervisors revealed that the two field functions that require the most paperwork time are employee timekeeping and material management functions. Timekeeping functions required anywhere from 10–15%, and material management functions required 26–37% of a field supervisor's time. This system is desperately needed to solve the impending paper burden encountered on construction projects by field personnel, and should be utilized at the project level to provide significant time savings for field supervisory personnel. The automation device chosen for this project was a pen‐based portable computer. Field applications were developed and demonstrated in the field at two job sites to determine user reaction and input. Results from these two demonstrations indicate that this type of hardware device possesses the potential and capability to automate construction field‐data collection. These two applications are described in the paper along with a review of commercially available software and hardware.