Development of a Real-time BIM-VR Multi-Collaborative Design Environment

Construction 4.0 technologies are transforming AEC designs and processes. Metaverses are developing rapidly and are being adopted in various industries as the future of the internet. The metaverse is an augmented world that allows individuals to penetrate and engage. Nevertheless, many people and businesses are still unaware of the potential uses of this technology. Virtual Reality, which is part of the fundamentals of the metaverse convergence with BIM technology, has improved in research and application in the AEC industry. The AEC industry has recently adopted both Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) as combined tools aiming at increasing collaboration ability among project team members as well as detecting clashes and correcting flaws before construction begins. This presents a multi-collaborative design as a potential requirement for BIM processes in the metaverse. The authors presented a platform that connects multiple VR environments through an online network to create a real-time-shared VR space that supports BIM models in real-time for collaborative design. The BIM-VR environment uses a game engine to create a session where individuals can upload their 3D BIM models in real-time which can be viewed by all users. This study presents that a collaborative environment that supports users and BIM models is the initial step to a BIM-based metaverse in the AEC industry.