industry. However, that same technology is starting to gain
a toehold in the construction industry, and is being used
for everything from planning and virtual walk-throughs of
design plans to helping conduct quality assurance inspections.
While VR and AR technologies have been around since
the 1990s, they did not become mainstream until the past
decade, and it wasn’t until about five years ago that they
started being used in construction thanks to the increasing
use of building information modelling (BIM).
Two leading technology companies recently shared why
VR and AR use is increasing in the construction industry,
what these advancements have to offer to both large and
small construction firms and what this all means for the
future of construction in Canada.
Virtual reality vs. augmented reality
Prior to any discussion about the merits of VR and AR in
the construction industry, it is worth noting the differences
between the two. In simple terms, VR is a completely simulated
environment created by computer technology. AR, on
the other hand, enables the user to stay visually present in
the real world while elements are augmented by computergenerated
overlays that provide an X-ray view into an object
or environment.
Unlocking spatial understanding
New York-based IrisVR is one of the world’s leading companies
when it comes to the use of VR in the construction
industry. Its software system is currently used in more
than 100 countries, including Canada. The company was
founded in 2014, by partners Shane Scranton and Nate
Beatty, both of whom had been working in the AEC industry
and encountered difficulties communicating design
intent using conventional 2D and 3D models.
Scranton, a self-professed “geek,” had become fascinated
a few years earlier with the new generation of VR
headsets that was available. He and Beatty soon began
thinking of how this technology could be used to overcome
some of the communication difficulties they had
been dealing with.
“I was interested in trying out the new technology and
got some 3D files of buildings into a headset manually so
you could walk around and look,” said Scranton, the company’s
CEO. “Suddenly in a headset, it was such a clear
representation that really unlocked spatial understanding
for building design much earlier in the process. VR and AR
are really the only mediums where it’s a literal representation
of what you’re going to get. You don’t have to stretch
your brain to imagine it. It feels like you’re physically
there. It’s such a fundamental difference.”
TECHNOLOGY
IrisVR’s technology allows team members to immerse themselves in a project’s design
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