Virtual environments for the AEC sector - the Divercity experience

Construction projects involve a large number of both direct stakeholders (clients, professional teams, contractors, etc.) and indirect stakeholders (local authorities, residents, workers, etc.). Current methods of communicating building design information can lead to several types of difficulties (e.g. incomplete understanding of the planned construction, functional inefficiencies, inaccurate initial work or clashes between components, etc.). In that context, Virtual Environments can improve communication between different stakeholders around a visual, and thus intuitive, representation of the planned construction. The paper describes how, within the EC funded Divercity project (IST-1999-13 365), end-users contributed in defining the requirements for the use of VE in the Construction sector and in defining test scenarios adapted to their business needs. The overall outcomes of the project are also be presented and special focus is made on the Design Review Workspace.