Context-aware information delivery for construction programme managers: current context

Abstract

The growth of mobile communications in recent years has transformed the way in which people and organisations communicate and interact. It has revolutionised the construction industry in the way in which information is exchanged and viewed. Moreover, the use of various mobile project management tools and enterprise project management systems in construction management has been on the increase. The construction industry has greatly benefited from the advances in mobile communication technologies. However, the existing mobile applications in construction management only support the delivery of static modes of information (such as project data, technical drawings, risk assessment etc), it is pre-programmed and thus not able to take into account the workers’ changing context, the dynamic project conditions and the level of project information. Mobile applications could be made responsive to users’ wishes if they were context-aware. This is done by using technology that is capable of understanding the users’ intentions by taking into account any relevant supporting information supplied for the purpose.