Potential of Augmented Reality as an Assistant Viewer for Computer-Aided Drawing

Abstract

Based upon technical feasibility and interest in Augmented Reality as a flexible framework for the development of visualization tools and human–machine interfaces for the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, a prototype for augmented reality computer aided drawing (AR CAD) is being developed as a first example and test bed for establishing the benefits of such tools. AR CAD adds an augmented reality assistant viewer to standard CAD. Following a brief description of the structure and function of AR CAD, this technical note focuses on an experiment to measure AR CAD’s utility with respect to its relative advantage over basic CAD as measured in terms of time to perform a simple conflict detection task. The basic concepts of spatial cognition are noted as key issues in exploiting the strengths of such three-dimensional visualization systems as AR CAD. Experimental results demonstrate that the spatial cognition benefits from using the AR viewer assistant for a simple spatial conflict detection task exceeds the cognition cost associated with transitioning between viewing windows when the only other method of detection is visual cues in standard CAD.