Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

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Results in Engineering
journal homepage: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/results-in-engineering

Visualization of urban development 3D layout plans with

augmented reality
Mukesh Kumar Rohil *, Yemineni Ashok
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In recent times, requirements in urban planning and construction of buildings have dramatically increased with
Augmented reality the drastic growth of population in urban areas. Well-designed urban planning helps in the provision of excellent
Virtual reality facilities to the public. Furthermore, it transforms a city into a smart city. Urban planning simplifies the provision
Visualization
of resources, i.e. transportation, communication, water provision, garbage disposal system, etc. The existing
Building information modeling
Urban development
construction planning visualizations of 2D CAD and 3D BIM renderings work entirely in virtual digital content,
which reduces the graphical object’s real-time exposure to the construction process. This work explores some
software-driven approaches to visualize 3D layout plans for urban development using Augmented Reality (AR).
AR environment gives full-scale walkthroughs of designs to workers and designers. The article analyzes two
urban planning scenarios (a) creation of new structures, (b) recreation of existing designs. The creation of new
structures is done using Building Information Modeling (BIM) with AR to make 3D layout blueprints come alive.
Recreation of existing designs develops BIM after merging two environments together, i.e. already existing
structures and designs of new structures. Experimental results consisting of photorealistic AR digital visualiza­
tions of indoor as well as outdoor scenes of 3D layouts are used to assess the validity of our approach. The article
also reports the historical growth of Augmented Reality, and explores the possible ways to architect and design
urban planning 3D layout in the AR environment. Furthermore, it discusses certain possible applications of AR in
urban planning.

1. Introduction
The visualization of reality view produced by amalgamating the
virtual objects with the real scenes is an Augmented Reality (AR) tech­
nology. The final AR output projects in the form of live video as digitally
enhanced computer graphics. Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-
generated artificial environment that makes the users of the device
feel as if they are in a different artificial world. Reflecting Virtual Reality
vision and real vision on human retina gives the illusion of augmented
reality.
Prominent developments in augmented reality were done in 1974 by
Myron Krueger. Myron Krueger invented the video place mechanism for
the human-machine interface. Video place merges the virtual image
with the shadow of a real human image. The significant steps of the
video place system’s AR visualization are shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1, the
black color area indicates the projection surface. Fig. 1, a) depicts the
virtual vision of the graphical text objects on the projection surface.
Users can type the text using these graphical objects. These graphical
text objects are projected on a projection surface using the projection
system. In Fig. 1, b) depicts the visualization of AR on the projection
surface. This AR visualization is generated by merging the virtual image
of graphical text objects with the shadow of a human.
In Fig. 1, c), the user is typing the text by pressing the graphical
objects of text available on the projection surface. Fig. 1, d) depicts the
drawing of virtual sketches by operating graphical objects available on
the projection surface.
Nowadays, AR is projected by immersing with 3D environment. This
environment brings complete illusion to the user that the virtual
rendering environment is a part of its real context.
In the olden days, people used drawings and blu eprints to design
building plans. Continuing this paradigm, the subsequent generation
implements Computer-Aided Design (CAD), which helps to visualize the
dimensions of design in a digital environment. Later, a 3D model design,
Building Information Modeling (BIM) [1] was invented to get a
completely realistic environment. Using BIM with augmented reality
makes 3D prints and displays come alive. Using a tablet application or

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rohil@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in (M.K. Rohil), p20190024@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in (Y. Ashok).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2022.100447
Received 26 January 2022; Received in revised form 28 April 2022; Accepted 12 May 2022
Available online 18 May 2022
2590-1230/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

Table 1
Overview of related studies.
Specification Article Overview

Survey on (Rosenberg This implementation paves the way

enhancements in 1993) [7] for robotics environments in real-
Augmented Reality world situations.
(Piekarski and This survey boots up the usage of
Thomas 2002) augmented reality in the gaming
[2] industry. Users may enjoy the
gaming environment by moving in
the physical world, along with
experiencing computer-generated
graphics (Virtual Reality). Players
can immerse themselves in the
augmented environment, by
wearing a transparent head-
mounted device (HMD) on their
player’s head. A half-silvered mirror
internally merges images from an
LCD with a player’s vision of the real
world. A player can feel a graphical
virtual environment while walking
outdoors by combining display
technology with wearable HMD.
(Pathkar and Google Glass is the first body borne
Joshi 2014) [3] computer, which leads us to
interacting with the real-world
environment through the android
Fig. 1. Projection view of video place. OS. It gives constant interaction
between computer and user. This
constant interaction can be
pair of AR glasses (HoloLens) will give full-scale walkthroughs of the accomplished by continuously
design. applying virtual reality and
This entire article is suggesting and reinforcing the use of computer- augmented reality. It works on the
aided designing in the construction field and Visualization of Urban hands-free voice control mechanism.
(Clark and Clark Pokemon Go, the game is a fully
Development 3D Layout Plans using Augmented Reality.
2016) [8] augmented reality game submerged
into actual geographical space. In
2. Related studies this game, the player collects virtual
actors using mobile. In this process,
Over the last two decades, many studies [1–15] have been empha­ the player may undergo competition
against the opposite players.
sizing the credibility and features of augmented reality. Embedding such Survey emphasizing (Kösa and This study highlights the influence
sparking technology for designing and planning yields tremendous op­ the software-driven Karakuş 2018) of software-based instruction on
portunities in the construction field. Markable growth in construction design [5] spatial visualization skills for
paves the way for new inventions in urban planning. Sustainable growth freshmen engineers to understand
the design and drawing of civil
of urban planning facilitates the human lifestyle. Proper urban planning
architectures. Among the 166
and mathematical modeling of feedback systems [16] also shows ways freshmen, 80% are trained with the
to utilize natural resources without damaging the environment [17,18] help of computer-based aid in an
along with providing some possible safety from natural hazards [19]. engineering drawing course. This
Table 1 summarizes the related studies regarding AR. Augmented study showed the positive output for
learning and designing by computer-
Reality is playing a vital role in various fields. AR is widely used in based design.
Movies and Gaming Industry, medical field, manufacturing, industrial (Fenves 1981) The study reinforces the
development, education, space research works, and infrastructure [9] development of computer-aided
development [3,5–11]. designs for civil engineering and
problematic areas in civil
Reviews by Piekarski and Thomas [2] are the markable steps towards
engineering. The author is
augmented reality in the outdoor environment. The player performs emphasizing the importance of
activities like running, shooting at monsters, killing monsters, and col­ computer-based models in civil
lecting objects from the real-world environment with a perception that it engineering for designers,
is a virtual gaming environment. They [2] accomplish an augmented constructors, owners and regulatory
agencies of the project.
reality vision by placing a mirror to merge a computer-generated view (Eckert and Reviews an efficient planning
with a real-world image. They [2] projected both reflections on the Clarkson 2010) strategy in the process of meeting
mirror and achieved an augmented reality vision by triggering the [10] critically tight deadlines. The article
imposed reflection on the player’s eye. is emphasizing the role of computer-
based design paradigms in reducing
Google glass [3] is the futuristic gadget to experience the real-world
the overall time and space
through the android operating system. HoloLens [4] is a similar inven­ complexity in planning the design
tion by Microsoft to explore real-time imagination of theoretical studies strategy.
for the school of education with holographic features. Microsoft Hol­ Survey on image (Qiao et al., The review publishes
oLens is a mixed reality device. It projects holographic-like images on registration 2019) [6] recommendations towards research
in Augmented Reality from the
glasses after merging real-world artifacts with virtual artifacts. perspective of modern technology.
Kösa and Karakuş [5] reinforce the use of a software-driven approach This study summarizes possible
for visualizing the design and drawing of architecture in the process of (continued on next page)
improving and realizing better understanding capabilities. Qiao et al.

2
M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok
Table 1 (continued )
Specification Article Overview
implementation strategies for
Augmented Reality by examining
the different computational
capacities, i.e., space complexity &
computation complexity.
(Jiang et al., The review facilitates the vision
2018) [11] odometry invention for the image
registration paradigm by fusion of
the laser coordinates and the
camera’s image coordinates. This
study explores the modern
computation paradigms for
collecting and integrating Nemours
laser beam distance measurements,
and emphasizes the collective
collection of Nemours laser beam
distances and integrating them to
achieve accurate measurements.
(Gupta and Rohil The review is exploring the
2017) [12] essentiality of Augmented Reality in
a wide range of uses in different
fields. Primarily, the authors
emphasize on the field of education.
They have explored modern trends
in computer vision-based paradigms
in the education field.
[6] review the possible implementations of mobile Augmented Reality
by reviewing all previous aspects.
Fig. 2 and Table 1 depict the list of possible areas where Augmented
Reality is applied or applicable. However, present research in
augmented reality for urban planning is still in its initial stage and
should be continued with an aim to address and discover the relevant
characteristics of augmented reality in urban planning [5].
Our paper is an infrastructure development application emphasizing
urban planning using AR technology. This paper provides a brief over­
view of AR benefits, features, and possible applications in urban plan­
ning. In this article (in Section 3), we have explored the possible ways to
visualize BIM using AR. Section 4 contains the explanation of one of the
experimental results performed in our institute premises. In Section 5,
we have explored some of the applications of Augmented Reality in
different scenarios, followed by the conclusion in Section 6.
The present research visualization of urban development plans using
AR is still in its growing stage. Indeed, the extensive analysis of AR yields
unique productive AR-based design environments for the development
of urban planning.
Fig. 2. Promising applications of augmented reality.
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Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447
3. Design and visualization of urban plan layouts using
augmented reality
In this section, we have explored the methods for design and visu­
alization of urban plan layout using AR. Usually, architects will come
across two types of situations while designing urban plan layouts (a)
Creation of new structures, (b) Recreation of existing designs.
The creation of new structures in urban planning consists of two
major stages (Fig. 3). Initially, we develop a Building Information
Modeling (BIM) model using computer-aided software. This BIM con­
sists of 3D view of architecture. In the second stage, we give BIM for AR
visualization. Users can feel the AR environment by visualizing through
AR glasses. We can achieve this visualization by using some AR appli­
cations available on tablets or mobile phones also. Users can finalize the
design layout after visualizing the layout in the AR environment, or they
may invoke the architecture for modifications in design.
As depicted in Fig. 4, the overall scenario for the recreation of
existing designs contains four significant steps: (a) capturing the co-
ordinates of existing real-world plans, (b) construction of the software-
driven virtual 3D model, (c) rendering the real image with the virtual
3D (BIM) model and (d) generating the AR visualization. Recursively
performing these four steps based on the requirements of users, gener­
ates a better and required augmented 3D look.
The initial step, capturing the co-ordinates of existing real-world
plans is a central stone; its accuracy affects the overall scenario. To
reduce the error rate, it is preferred to use the sensor-based mechanism
in combination with the real camera’s image. (One may use LIDAR [13]
with n laser scanners to compute the distance from LIDAR to object using
reflected light from the sensor). The n laser scanners have 3600 rotation
capability to increase the probability of exploring circumference. Each
complete rotation of the laser head covers a space according to its
elevation angle. βiy is the distance between the object and the laser
scanner calculated by ith laser scanner for yth shot, βoi is the delay due
to external circumstances affecting the lidar. Ri niy is the plane described
by ith laser scanner for the yth shot. The distance between the object and
the LIDAR calculated by ith laser scanner for yth point is described by
Eq. (1) [13].
Ri
niy = αi(βiy + βoi)Riny (1)
Here α is the scaling factor, Ri {i = 1,2 …. n} are the frame co-
ordinates triggered by ith laser, n is the unit vector corresponding to
n. design.
The result can be supplemented to escalate the accuracy in deriving
co-ordinates. The supplementing method uses a camera’s image frame.
Get co-ordinates from the camera’s virtual image by marker-based
approach [14] or markerless approach. In the marker-based approach,
a marker is placed in a real-time construction environment to assess the
posture and orientation of the real objects in the virtual environment. In
virtual images, we build the coordinate system based on marking posi­
tions. According to the second approach (i.e., markerless), these posi­
tions can be computed by image processing methods like feature
detection, corner detection, edge detection etc. Exploring massive image
processing techniques triggers a lot of computational complexity.
design.
The distance from LIDAR to tangent plane Li for the jth frame is
calculated as in Eq. (2) [13]. Here, C is the fixed frame reference ob­
tained from the camera image, Bj is the calibration board’s jth frame of
reference, C n j is the description of each laser beam, and CtBj is the
transformation between C and Bj.
Li≜CnjT Ct Bj (2)
In Eq. (2), T represents matrix transposition. The final resulting M x 1
matrix, as in Eq. (3), is the result. Here C tRi and C​ Ri C represent the
translation between the Ladybug and ith laser scanner. The final C tRi and
αi of ith scanner are computed by Eq. (3) [13], where T implies matrix
M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

Fig. 3. Building mechanism for new structures.

Fig. 4. Building mechanism for recreation of structures.

transposition, that follows. Aided Design (CAD) models that help visualize the dimensions of
⎡ ⎤ design in a digital environment. Later, a 3D model design, Building In­
C T C Ri
(βi11 + βoi ) nT1 C​ Ri C ni11 ⎡ ⎤ formation Modeling (BIM) [1], was invented to get a completely realistic
⎢ n1 ⎥
⎢
⎢C T C TC Ri
⎥
⎥[
d1 environment. In this work, we render BIM’s 3D visual designs with
⎢ n2 (βi12 + βoi ) n2 ​ Ri C ni12 ⎥ C ] ⎢ ⎥
⎢ d2 ⎥ Augmented Reality that makes 3D prints and displays come alive. Using
⎢ ⎥ tRi
=⎢ . ⎥ (3)
⎢.
⎢ . ⎥
⎥ αi ⎢
⎣. ⎦
⎥ a tablet AR application or pair of AR glasses (HoloLens) will give
⎢ ⎥
⎢. . ⎥ full-scale walkthroughs of the design. Fig. 5 illustrates different visual
⎣C T ( )C ⎦ dM
experiences of 2D CAD, 3D BIM, and proposed 3D AR visualizations of
Ri
nM βiMNiM + βoi nTM C​ Ri C niMNiM
BIM for the construction environments’ analysis. Further, these steps are
From the above computations, in the presence of no error, object explained below.
distance calculation produces zero error by subtracting laser beam dis­
tance to object from LIDAR produced by laser beam method and camera a. Virtual 3D BIM Model Creation
image distance to the object from LIDAR produced by camera image
method. The virtual three-dimensional BIM model is created based on a dig­
Similarly, for digital maps, GPS outputs are found with architecture ital 2D layout design, or adjusted if the 3D model is needed in BIM
position longitude, latitude, and altitude then obtain the position error design software. We have mentioned information related to some of the
statistics such as standard deviation for longitude, latitude, and altitude virtual 3D model designing IDEs in Fig. 6. It explains the pipeline flow
from the covariance of GPS measurements and the values of final dis­ through to the BIM 3D model generation. We have created 3D virtual
tance from LIDAR to object obtained from Eq. (3). The procedure is models using Revit, which has a rich library of all Architecture, Con­
recursively applied to minimize position error statistics. design. struction, and Engineering (ACE) related three-dimensional graphical
We can design the extended architecture with computer-aided soft­ objects such as doors, windows, walls, roofs, stairs, floors, ramps, etc.
ware according to coordinates and measurements obtained from Eq. (3) and produces an FBX file to export into Unity (AR engine). Fig. 7 depicts
with the artificial 3D environment. The virtual computer-aided archi­ the Revit software design environment. The toolbar menu on top of
tecture design environment coordinates are imposed with real-time Revit has buttons with all 3D graphical objects to incorporate into the 3D
coordinates. Rendering 3D environment yields the final amalgamated architecture models. The designer can use available 3D graphical objects
design of virtual computer-aided design and real existing design — on the toolbar menu, or can build from scratch using parametric
recursive application of algorithm results in producing the computer- modeling. The design imports 2D drafting, and puts the graphical ob­
generated 3D augmented visualization with accurate computations. jects in specified places as per 2D digital drawing. Revit can import 2D
In the olden days, for planning, experts used drawings and blueprints digital drawings of dwg, pdf, gbXML and image file formats.
to design building plans in construction planning practice. Continuing
this paradigm, the subsequent generations implemented 2D Computer- b. Virtual 2D Drafting

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M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

The virtual 2D drafting is the process of digitizing hard copies of 2D

hand-drawing designs. Fig. 7 depicts the software that facilitates the 2D
design. Nowadays, the three-dimensional BIM model design software
also facilitates 2D design. We used AutoCAD for the 2D drafting of the
construction design, which has a rich library of all drawing tools like
polynomial line, arc, circle, rectangle etc., and produces a dwg file to
export to any 3D BIM model design software. Fig. 7 depicts the AutoCAD
software-designing environment. The designer checks the contextual
analysts’ hand-made drawings, and designs the digital 2D draft by
incorporating the available drawing resources from the toolbar on the
top of AutoCAD software.

c. Contextual Analysis

Before starting 2D drafting, the designer has to analyze the proposed

construction site analytically. The analysis module is proposed to
identify the precise position of infrastructure utilities. Site boundary and
dimensions, building height restrictions, access to site construction,
access to the site like car parking, airports, bus routes and train stations,
surface and materials around the site, street lighting, site location de­
tails, climate conditions of the site, provision of essential utilities like

Fig. 5. Visual experiences of 2D CAD (a), 3D BIM (b) and 3D AR (c).

Fig. 7. 2D drafting in AutoCAD and visuals of AutoCAD toolbar.

Fig. 6. Pipeline of BIM 3D model generation.

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M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

water, gas, power, etc. The construction site analysis helps in con­ ⎧[ ( )]2 H*W
struction and architecture design. The designer can put his idea of a
j
⎪ −
⎨ ω 1− e λ
⎪ j≤
design on a hand-made drawing sheet, or can start designing in digital k2
T(d, j) = [ ( )]2 (10)
⎪
2D drafting. This paradigm is continuous, like contextual analysis, vir­ ⎪
⎩ αd2 * ω 1 − e− λj j> 2
H*W
tual 2D drafting, virtual 3D BIM model design (for example, Fig. 8 il­ k
lustrates the top view of a room design of 3D BIM in Revit app, and Fig. 9 Here, the upper limit of roughness of a given plane is denoted by ω.
illustrates a 3D external view of the BIM in Revit app), and generation of As threshold dynamically varies, λ is used to determine the change in the
AR visualizations. speed of threshold and H*W indicates depth map size. Here, α and k are
The details pertaining to two important aspects are provided below. two constants.

i. Location of Interest estimation from real-time depth map ii. Conversion of LOI coordinates to BIM 3D visual coordinates

The digital graphical objects (3D layouts) are projected on different While positioning the BIM 3D graphical objects uses plane co-
structures, generally dominated by plane surfaces. To estimate the ordinates [13,21], a BIM 3D visual is generally created with a local
location of interest, we employ depth-driven plane detection [20]. The system/object coordinate system by defining a reference point that can
patch with the highest planarity is used as seed to initialize this method, be a project survey point. The real time environment defines the world
and grows the plane detection to its maximum extent until the dynamic coordinate system, i.e. LIDAR coordinate system. Hence, the next step is
threshold steers the process. In the depth map, a patch with free zero to transform (i.e. convert) the LOI coordinate system into local coordi­
depth value points is considered as one initial seed patch. nate system. The geometric model for this type of transformation is
In 3D space, for a plane given in Eq. (4), where a, b, c and d are four depicted in Fig. 10, and it is calculated using Eq. (11) and Eq. (12).
numeric constants, and for any arbitrary point p given by Eq. (5) pre­
MLOI,BIM = R(θ).T(Δx ​ Δy ​ Δz) (11)
sented on the plane, the normal of the plane ̂ n could be estimated by Eq.
(6). ⎡ ⎤
cos θ − sin θ 0
ax + by + cz + d = 0 (4) (Xbim Ybim Zbim )T = ⎣ sin θ cos θ 0 ⎦ ⋅ (x y z)T + (Δx Δy Δz)T (12)
0 0 1
p = (x, y, z) (5)
Based on the above discussion, Fig. 11 depicts the building mecha­
nism for new structures.
n =̂
(a, b, c) (6)
The fitting error, error(p), between i, the fitting plane (that may be 4. Experimental results
optimal), and a point p close to or on the plane can be estimated as
follows. As mentioned in Section 3, the implementation procedure starts with
the development of Building Information Modeling. Fig. 12 depicts the
error(p) = | n̂i ⋅ p + di | (8)
3D view of a proposed building. It is an entirely virtual reality image
The given plane region could be grown by iteratively adding points without augmentation of reality.
to initial seed patches. In jth iteration, the point incorporated into the Fig. 13 depicts the augmented reality visualization of BIM. In this
plane is given by the following Eq. (9). image, the generated Augmented Reality vision from Fig. 12 was pro­
/ j { } jected on the grass floor. We can also visualize this AR vision by pro­
sj+1
i si = ∀p ∈ NiJ : error(p) ≤ T(d, j) (9) jecting through AR glasses available in the market. This AR vision will
Here, the threshold, T(d,j), can be dynamically changed as follows. give the same impression as in Fig. 13. For more advanced applications,
users can feel the floor-by-floor and corner-by-corner walkthroughs of

Fig. 8. Top view of internal room design of 3D BIM model drawing in Revit.

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M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

Fig. 9. External view of 3D BIM model drawing in Revit.

grass location presented beside the building (i.e., in green color).

In Fig. 15, users can visualize the AR view of the virtual reality
building layout. This AR visualization is generated by immersing the
real-time vision from Fig. 14 with AR vision in Fig. 13. Users can get the

Fig. 10. Coordinate transformation.

the design.
Fig. 14 is the view of the real construction environment. The building
designed (in Fig. 12) by architects, can be constructed besides the real
Fig. 12. Building information modeling of a proposed building.
building shown in Fig. 14. In the image, the construction environment is

Fig. 11. Building mechanism for new structures.

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M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok
Fig. 13. AR visualization of building information modeling.
Fig. 14. Real-time building without adding virtual images.
Fig. 15. Adjusting the AR vision with a real-time environment.
final Augmented Reality vision by amalgamating the coordinates of both
visions. The final visualization of the design is depicted in Fig. 16. We
can modify, or even reinitiate the complete design layout by simply
undergoing mandatory changes to BIM. BIM can be redesigned accord­
ing to the requirements of users. After making the required modifica­
tions to BIM, visualize the BIM in AR by projecting through AR glasses,
as explained in Section 3.
5. Augmented reality applications to urban planning
Many experiments have been carried out to survey the uses and
benefits of Augmented Reality in urban development. Fig. 17 depicts a
HoloLens [4] urban plan image, a full-scale walkthrough of the design
projected using HoloLens. The tags labelled 1 and 2 on Fig. 17 represent
the two cities whose 3D layout plans are to be augmented. statistics.
The advantages of Augmented Reality in urban planning involve
better attention to eye-catching presentations. Planning and designing
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Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447
Fig. 16. Final AR visualization of both real and virtual images.
Fig. 17. Urban planning vision using HoloLens [15].
become interactive with an increased level of the digital spatial design
environment. AR can potentially decrease the direct involvement of
designers and contractors with the working environment. AR simplifies
the process of monitoring for the contractor by doing error pruning from
the room environment before the actual building work officially starts. It
helps in improving workplace safety and removing the unpredictable
danger hazards without direct human interaction. AR helps to train new
employees without directly exposing to potentially dangerous equip­
ment. AR also enables the stakeholders to customize the room and house
environment before purchase.
Augmented Reality gives new ways to visualize information and
interacting with the real world. Mapping and analysis of terrains need a
direct exposure to a potentially dangerous environment. However, using
augmented reality reduces human interaction in terrain mapping and
gives spatial realistic holographic environment. Nowadays, people are
using perspective views for terrain mapping. However, while using the
perspective view method, the computations of dimensions are affected
by different factors: 1) viewing azimuth, 2) viewing angle, 3) viewing
distance and 4) Z-Scale.
Generate Building Information Modeling (BIM) model using 3D
views of the terrain accumulated from the perceptive view. As shown in
Fig. 3, deploying these BIMs into AR glass will give an augmented reality
view of terrain mapping. Contour lines, contour interval, vertical
profiling and Hill shading are the different methods for computing the
terrain mapping. Contour lines, contour interval, and vertical profiling
calculate the elevation manually. Hill Shading is a software-driven
computer-aided 2D approach for terrain mapping and attempts to
simulate the view of terrain along with the interaction between surface
and sunlight. All these methods require a lot of human resources and
consume much time. These methods may generate enormous compu­
tational complexity with inaccurate results. Using AR can reduce some
of these manual efforts.
Water Shed analysis [22] is another area where AR can be applied. It
includes analysis of home water tank, city centralized water tank, water
levels in reservoir, wastewater drainage system, and flood management.
M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok Results in Engineering 14 (2022) 100447

Monitoring and analyzing inflow and outflow are necessary, and

improper maintenance leads to water scarcity and inundations.
Computing storage volume based on surface area may generate inac­
curate results due to siltation. Measuring the volume of the watershed
instead of the surface area produces better results. An expert can obtain
accurate dimensions of a watershed using AR technology and measure
the storage volume. With full-scale walkthroughs into the watershed
analysis, using AR makes the discharge of water in proper timing.
Designing a map in 2D environments requires marking information
or marking symbols to indicate segregate regions. For example, a thick
line in black may represent an interstate highway. Choosing the
appropriate map symbol is a major concern and more complicated than
selecting a destination in 2D environment. AR will avoid all these by
guiding the user by projecting a realistic virtual environment. Fig. 18
shows a visual difference between a 2D environment map and the AR
environment map.
In addition to offering certain features that are useful to designers
and planners, AR technology also gives a better realistic experience to
stakeholders. Despite the advantages, AR has some limitations too. AR is
best with stable high-speed interconnection and static environments.
However, AR gives more accurate visual digital dimensions than
computing with traditional design planning methods.
The proposed method can be applied in the cultural heritage and
archeological data. AR is a modern visualization tool that can be widely
used in digitizing the world’s cultural heritage. The biggest challenge in
the digitization of archaeology is to provide immersive visualizations to
make users feel connected to historical or past people. The 3D digiti­
zation of archeological sites generates a record-maintainable 3D com­
puter model, and these are entirely artificial and non-immersive virtual
reality models. In contrast, AR visualizations provide an immersive
experience in existing sites by augmenting 3D models of the historical
part that no longer exists on the top of ruins (real scene). A part of the
proposed method, “Recreation of exiting designs”, enriches the immer­
sive AR visualization of ruined archeological objects. The “creation of
new structures” method allows the visualization of destroyed sculptures’
virtual objects on the heritage site in case of total distortion. These
Augmented Reality models help reach the public through experiential
learning for archaeologists. The capture and preservation of the cultural
heritage’s computer model provide long-term consistency in perishing
to heritage due to terrorist attacks, natural phenomena, or effects of
time. They also provide safety to the viewers, and navigation to all the
site’s corners during heritage site exploration by the user(s).

6. Conclusions and future directions

In this article, we explored some possible ways of AR in designing the

urban plan layouts. Visualization of the urban development plan using
AR gives the best artificial spatial design for proper urban planning. AR
simplifies the process of project planning, measurement computations,
design updates, collection of on-site architecture environment, safety
training, etc.
‘Although Augmented Reality uses multiple tools for projecting AR
vision, it is the best visual aid to get walkthroughs for analysing the
virtual urban development plans. There are specific issues like high
computational complexities, networking requirements and storage
complexities to be considered. However, in practice, the limitations
regarding technical issues can be overcome (to possible extents) as a
scope for future research. In-depth research on AR paves the ways for
innovations in the visualization of 3D designs. Considering the above
issues, there are certain shortcomings of the proposed method as the
method incorporates the LIDAR for its wide visibility range, and can
detect transformations of the target object with high accuracy. However,
it requires high processing and expensive computation. The AR tracking Fig. 18. Map design. a) Maps in the 2D environment [23], b) Maps in the AR
environment [23].
performance can constantly be improved with hybrid localizing ap­
proaches [24] by different sensors’ information fusion with low pro­
cessing and expensive computation. The results obtained from GPS and

9
M.K. Rohil and Y. Ashok
SLAM [25] may give the continuous detection of the location of interest,
whenever there is a sensor failure or when GPS failures occur due to
inconsistent internet facility at the construction site. Incorporating the
LIDAR and sensor information fusion for the proposed AR visualization
of construction sites and architectures is yet to be explored.
The application of onsite visualization capabilities of Augmented
Reality could be interestingly taken to urban or city planning. However,
the theme of integrating and exploiting the visualization of urban
development using AR for smart and sustainable city development needs
to be further researched.
The proposed method can further enhance the level of understanding
of onsite by incorporating cloud computing services. We could reaize
uploading as well as synchronization of information contained in AR
devices sitting at the onsite locations using cloud services. Thus, the
Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facility Management
(AEC/FM) designs and construction site 3D visuals can be accessible,
examinable and modifiable from any location, irrespective of the loca­
tion. Users from different locations can collaborate with each other by
accessing these cloud AR services. The incorporation of cloud AR for
BIM’s 3D visualization of construction layouts does elicit further
investigation.
Credit author statement
Mukesh Kumar Rohil: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investiga­
tion, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing-
Reviewing and Editing. Yemineni Ashok: Data curation, Investigation,
Visualization, Writing – original draft.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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