Linking Time-Lapse Digital Photography and Dynamic Scheduling of Construction Operations

Abstract

A dynamic scheduling system that links digital movies of construction activities, a CPM schedule, and progress control of construction has been developed. A time-lapse technique has been used in such a way that months of construction performance can be watched in minutes. A method to produce a digital movie has been developed allowing thousands of pictures to be stored in, and managed by, microcomputers under a Windows environment. A recording system has been introduced enabling the user to specify the day-by-day progress achieved in activities undertaken, allowing the program to link the playback movie with the progress observed on the construction field. A CPM engine has been developed to produce a Gantt chart. A procedure to build a histogram of expected cumulative percentage of progress is presented. An animation engine has been built in order to generate new bars reflecting the progress reported on the bar chart and the histogram, working in synchrony with the playback movie.