Using UAV’s and BIM Integration to Improve Infrastructure Delivery – a Case of Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, South Africa

Meeting planned timelines, quality and budget requirements in construction projects is always a challenge and the impact means that resources that should be used in other development projects get re-directed to addressing the problems created by exceeding time, quality and cost aberrations. However, the fourth industrial revolution has not spared the construction industry and it is affecting the way infrastructure is delivered. According to the World Economic Forum, digital technologies have begun to change how infrastructure and the built assets are designed, constructed, operated and maintained. The entry of technology to the industry is also driven by the realization that in order to improve on the delivery of projects, adoption of innovative methods that are based on digital technology is essential as it ensures efficiency and effectiveness in project management, transparency, and record keeping. In this study, we report on the use of drones (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles UAV) to capture site data and how it was integrated to Building Information Modelling (BIM) models to produce as-built drawings and quality checks from comparisons with as-imagined models. Data used in the study was obtained from construction projects sponsored by the Gauteng department of infrastructure, in South Africa. Findings demonstrate that UAV and BIM technology has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of project delivery. An enhancement in monitoring of work progress during construction, site surveillance, and integration of transformed 3D models to BIM to achieve more effective project management, record keeping, and quality control were observed. The accuracy of the data was also found to be adequate for the purpose of project management tasks. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Budapest University of Technology and Economics & Diamond Congress Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Creative Construction Conference 2019.