Best Paper Award 2011

As the academic and professional communities continue to strive for excellence, it is important that we recognize outstanding contributions. In an effort to promote continued achievement, we would like to recognize the following paper as the best of 2011.

Titled “Integrated Sequential As-Built and As-Planned Representation with ${\mathrm{D}}^4\mathrm{AR}$ Tools in Support of Decision-Making Tasks in the AEC/FM Industry” and authored by Mani Golparvar-Fard, Feniosky Peña-Mora, and Silvio Savarese, this paper appeared in the December 2011 issue of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 137, No. 12, pp. 1099–1116.

This work introduced an innovative approach to the four-dimensional representation of construction based on as-built conditions that the writers named ${\mathrm{D}}^4\mathrm{AR}$. Using the principles of structure from motion, the writers digitally stitched together a series of jobsite photographs and overlaid the images on three-dimensional CAD models. A high-level overview of the ${\mathrm{D}}^4\mathrm{AR}$ process and a series of seven case studies were presented in the paper. The writers presented validation results based on error measurements on two of the seven case studies.

${\mathrm{D}}^4\mathrm{AR}$ research could radically impact construction visualization applications and information modeling in the field. The writers noted that computational time is the primary barrier to the immediate application of ${\mathrm{D}}^4\mathrm{AR}$. Processing the images can easily take longer than practically allowable on most construction projects. As technology advances, the application of ${\mathrm{D}}^4\mathrm{AR}$ is expected to increase.

The article presents a significant advancement in the field of visualization and should be recognized as the paper of the year.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the award committee (Ioannis Brilakis, Chair; Khaled El-Rayes; Eddy Rojas; Paul Goodrum; and Jochen Teizer) for undertaking this assignment and executing it in such a professional, transparent, and timely manner. I know how much work they put into it.