Future Prospects of AR in Civil Engineering: How Construction Sites Will Change

Table of Contents

• What is AR in civil engineering?

• Benefits AR brings to construction sites

• Specific use cases of AR technology

• Challenges of AR adoption

• Future prospects and developments for AR in civil engineering

• FAQ

What is AR in civil engineering?

The civil engineering industry is also being swept by the wave of AR (augmented reality) technology, which overlays digital information onto real-world scenery. Through a smartphone or tablet camera, design drawings and 3D models can be superimposed on actual site footage. This enables intuitive understanding of construction status and the completed appearance. For example, when you hold a tablet up at a construction site, a 3D model of the completed bridge can appear to float above the unfinished structure. From major general contractors to small and medium construction firms and infrastructure maintenance teams, attention to “AR in civil engineering” is increasing. AR is expected to symbolize the construction industry’s digital transformation (DX), and ICT utilization initiatives promoted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism—such as i-Construction—are supporting this trend.

In the past, practical AR required expensive equipment and special markers. However, in recent years, smartphones and tablets equipped with excellent sensors and high-performance cameras, improvements in communication environments (such as 5G), and advances in positioning technologies have laid the groundwork for easy AR use even on large outdoor sites. Furthermore, the development of Japan’s own positioning satellite system (Michibiki) is an important element supporting high-precision AR use.

Until now, site management and inspections often relied heavily on flat drawings and experience, making it difficult to share images between clients, contractors, and workers. By using AR, users can overlay design data onto the actual site and confirm it in situ, allowing anyone to understand the situation at a glance. This helps prevent rework caused by discrepancies in understanding. With forecasts that the construction workforce will be short by about 900,000 workers by 2025, AR is attracting attention in the civil engineering industry—facing labor shortages and a decline in skilled technicians—as a solution that can dramatically increase productivity even with limited personnel.

Benefits AR brings to construction sites

Using AR on-site can deliver a wide range of effects, from improved work efficiency to enhanced safety. The main benefits are as follows.

• Real-time visualization of construction progress: By overlaying design models on the site, the progress of work can be grasped at a glance, contributing to more efficient schedule management.

• Reduction of construction errors and improved quality: Comparing design data with the actual object in AR allows early detection of misalignments and errors, reducing rework.

• Smoother information sharing and consensus building: From clients to workers, everyone can share the same image of the finished product, eliminating misunderstandings and facilitating communication.

• Enhanced safety management: Visualizing hazardous areas and heavy equipment movements in AR makes danger zones immediately obvious, helping to reduce accident risks and raise safety awareness.

• Promotion of education and technical succession: AR allows simulated experience of construction procedures and defect cases, helping young workers improve practical skills and complementing on-the-job training (OJT).

Thus, AR not only streamlines construction management but also has significant impacts on safety and communication. As a result, it can shorten construction periods and reduce costs, contributing to improved productivity across the site.

Specific use cases of AR technology

So how is AR specifically used on civil engineering sites? Below are roles in several use-case scenarios.

Pre-construction planning and consensus building: At the planning stage before work begins, AR can project the finished form onto the site for sharing. Displaying a life-size structure model at the location makes it easier to gain consensus from clients and nearby residents. The completed image, which was difficult to convey with drawings alone, can be intuitively understood, aiding pre-construction explanations and consultations. In practice, there have been cases where AR glasses combined with surveying instruments displayed the future road shape on site with an accuracy within a few millimeters (a few 0.12 in), and were used in resident briefings. This deepened understanding of the finished image and greatly shortened explanation and consultation times.

Construction management (progress and quality): During construction, holding up a tablet to overlay a design 3D model on the current structure allows visualization of progress and as-built condition. For example, in land development work, if an operator checks the design terrain model through AR while excavating or placing fill, they can work accurately without relying on intuition. This enables less experienced operators to perform accurate work without relying on veteran intuition, reducing quality variability due to skill differences. In rebar work, AR can display rebar placement diagrams to instantly check for missing pieces or spacing errors. Locations of buried objects that are difficult to confirm after completion can also be visualized during construction in AR, enabling early correction of defects and reducing rework. There have been reports in road construction and bridge works where AR enabled work to proceed to the design-specified accuracy. In renovation projects, AR has been used to display the positions of existing pipes and ducts hidden behind walls and ceilings to check for interference with new equipment in advance, reducing rework. Because information is easier to share across different specialty trades, AR contributes to strengthening overall site coordination.

Safety management: AR is also powerful for safety measures. Visualizing the operating range of heavy machinery or the swing radius of cranes in AR makes hazardous areas immediately apparent and helps communicate restricted zones. Simulating construction steps and verifying heavy equipment placement with AR displays can identify work interference and latent risks in advance, allowing safety to be built into the plan from the design stage. Additionally, there is growing interest in visualizing unseen hazards such as buried pipes and cables with AR to prevent excavation damage accidents.

Education and technical succession: Skilled veteran techniques can be experienced by younger workers through AR. For example, reproducing past construction defect cases in AR during training allows trainees to learn realistically where problems occurred. Initiatives to simulate inspection work are beginning, and AR is being used to improve young engineers’ on-site response skills and cultivate hazard awareness. AR is also used for outreach and public relations—for instance, showing AR exhibits of completed models to deepen public understanding of civil engineering. The use of AR for young worker training and technical succession is expected to expand further.

These AR initiatives are already producing results at various domestic sites. For example, in an intersection improvement project in Miyagi Prefecture, AR glasses were linked with an auto-tracking surveying instrument to accurately overlay the post-completion road shape across a construction section approximately 220 m (721.8 ft) in length. As a result, inspectors could quickly grasp discrepancies in as-built conditions during site inspections, and explanations of the finished image to nearby residents became easier, yielding significant benefits.

Also, a major construction company developed a proprietary AR system using tablets and trial-introduced it at more than a dozen sites. They reduced rework in renovation work by displaying pipe layouts above ceilings in AR and strengthened interdepartmental coordination by sharing drawing information during construction.

Furthermore, at Naruse Dam in Akita Prefecture, a PR facility introduced a life-size AR experience so visitors could intuitively understand the completed appearance. This example attracted attention as a highly effective way to convey complex civil engineering technology in an easy-to-understand manner and gain local cooperation.

Challenges of AR adoption

Although AR technology is convenient, there are several challenges to introducing and embedding it on sites. The main points are as follows.

• Required equipment and cost: Introducing dedicated equipment such as AR glasses and high-performance tablets incurs costs.

• Preparation of 3D data: The burden of preparing 3D models for AR display, such as BIM/CIM data.

• Ensuring positioning accuracy: GPS alone can cause position drift, so marker placement or correction using high-precision GNSS is necessary.

• Personnel training and resistance: Training workers unfamiliar with IT and overcoming psychological resistance to new technologies.

• Adapting to site environments: Issues such as outdoor screen visibility, device dustproofing and durability, and battery life.

However, these hurdles are gradually being resolved through technological innovation and industry-wide efforts. For example, standardization of BIM/CIM is progressing and reducing the burden of data preparation, and low-cost AR devices using smartphones have emerged, lowering equipment barriers. On-site IT education is also gradually spreading, creating an environment more conducive to AR adoption.

Future prospects and developments for AR in civil engineering

Despite these challenges, AR technology is advancing daily and is expected to substantially transform future construction sites. Fusion with related technologies such as high-precision positioning will progress, enabling even more advanced AR applications. In addition, integration with AI and IoT could allow AR devices to automatically detect construction defects and hazards or enable remote site monitoring through digital twins. Below are some examples of changes that may occur on future sites.

• Automated construction and machine guidance: As more construction machines support high-precision RTK, automated construction based on 3D design data will advance (driven by demand for robotic construction to compensate for severe labor shortages). Site supervisors will be able to remotely monitor and instruct heavy machinery movements through AR glasses. Virtual guidelines and excavation boundaries projected in AR will enable high-accuracy construction with small crews.

• Remote assistance and remote construction management: Through video from AR devices worn by site workers, experienced technicians in remote locations can provide real-time support. Since arrows and annotations can be displayed on the site video in AR during guidance, veterans can accurately support newcomers without being physically present, helping to supplement the shortage of skilled personnel. It may become possible to supervise multiple sites simultaneously from a remote location.

• Real-time as-built management: Systems that combine 3D scan data from drones or foot surveys with RTK positioning to constantly monitor construction progress will become widespread. During construction, completed models and as-built conditions can be compared on AR in real time, instantly detecting even slight deviations and issuing correction instructions. If realized, this could enable “always-accurate construction” with no rework.

• Proliferation of wearable AR devices: Smart glasses and helmets with AR functions will become commonplace, allowing workers to check information hands-free at all times. Currently, holding a tablet for AR is common, but in the future, integrated AR goggles in safety helmets will likely become standard on sites, displaying drawings and procedures in the worker’s field of view during tasks to improve efficiency. As AR devices become lighter and less expensive, adoption will become easier even on small- and medium-sized sites. Notably, in 2023, major IT companies announced advanced AR glasses, suggesting more user-friendly wearable devices will appear.

Overseas, systems combining AR with high-precision GNSS are already being used for checking buried objects and verifying as-built conditions before and after construction. In this way, AR is not a mere gadget but is expected to become a key technology that transforms civil construction workflows themselves. The fusion with high-precision positioning technology will be crucial to realizing this. Systems that integrate smartphones with compact GNSS receivers to provide centimeter-level positioning and AR display are already appearing. For example, LRTK is a compact device attached to a smartphone that enables high-precision RTK positioning, allowing anyone to perform simple surveying on site. By pressing a positioning button, the current position can be obtained with cm level accuracy (half-inch accuracy), and the acquired points are immediately saved and shared in the cloud. With LRTK, 3D models can be displayed in their designated positions in AR without troublesome coordinate alignment, eliminating the need for marker placement. While many other AR systems require special equipment or advanced skills, LRTK offers ease of use on site as long as users are familiar with smartphones. By simply attaching a pocket-sized device to a smartphone, site management without paper drawings or tape measures is becoming possible. The future of civil engineering opened up by high-precision RTK and AR is already at hand. As a first step to anticipating the future of “AR in civil engineering,” why not try next-generation construction management with LRTK?

The future of construction sites is steadily changing. By embracing AR technology, let’s evolve future construction sites to be safer and more efficient.

FAQ

Q. What is AR in civil engineering? A. AR in civil engineering refers to the use of AR (augmented reality) technology on construction and civil engineering sites. Through a smartphone or tablet camera, 3D models and design drawings are overlaid on real-world footage to help intuitive site understanding and consensus building.

Q. What are the benefits of introducing AR on construction sites? A. Main benefits include efficient construction management through visualization of progress, error reduction through comparison with design data, smoother information sharing, and use in safety education. For example, sharing the completed image via AR makes consensus with clients smoother, and checking models against actual work during construction helps prevent rework.

Q. What is needed to use AR on construction sites? A. Basically, an AR-capable device (smartphone, tablet, or AR glasses) and 3D design data to overlay are required. In construction, BIM/CIM 3D models are used. Accurate placement of models in real space requires alignment. For small areas, QR markers may suffice, but for wide areas requiring precision, RTK-GNSS is effective. For example, using an LRTK device attachable to a smartphone, centimeter-level positioning (cm level accuracy (half-inch accuracy)) can be achieved easily on site.

Q. What are the challenges and countermeasures for AR adoption? A. Challenges include the cost of dedicated devices and the effort to prepare 3D models for AR display. High-precision alignment on site may require expertise, and older workers may resist new technologies. These challenges can be addressed by introducing low-cost smartphone-based solutions and enhancing technical training.

Q. What role will AR play in the construction industry in the future? A. AR will become a standard tool in the construction industry. Combined with high-precision positioning technologies, it is expected to transform construction processes themselves—enabling automated construction, remote construction management, and real-time as-built inspection. A new style of digitally “visualized” site management, not reliant on paper drawings or traditional surveying instruments, will spread and contribute to alleviating chronic labor shortages and improving productivity.

Q. What is the difference between AR and VR? A. AR (augmented reality) overlays digital information onto real-world scenery and is used to assist on-site work. VR (virtual reality) creates a virtual environment on a computer and is mainly used for design review, simulation, and training. In construction, AR—which can merge the real site with digital design information—is generally more suitable for construction management and on-site support.

Q. Can AR help solve labor shortages? A. Yes. Introducing AR makes it easier to maintain construction quality with fewer personnel. Less experienced workers can follow AR guidance, ensuring a certain level of accuracy without relying on veteran intuition. Combined with remote assistance and automated construction, one technician may supervise multiple sites, for example. Tasks that traditionally required three people—such as surveying—may be handled by one person using AR and high-precision GNSS, demonstrating potential labor savings. Thus, AR is expected to contribute significantly to alleviating labor shortages.

Q. Is the government supporting AR adoption on construction sites? A. Yes. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is promoting digitalization of the construction industry (such as i-Construction) to accelerate the spread of advanced technologies including AR. Efforts include standardizing BIM/CIM data, creating guidelines for new technology adoption, and establishing evaluation and support systems for ICT-utilized projects, all aimed at making AR use on sites easier. In addition, initiatives to share advanced case studies and provide forums for information exchange are supporting industry-wide AR adoption. Under continued public–private DX promotion, AR adoption is expected to be further encouraged.