Using augmented reality to avoid excavation damage in Denmark: a qualitative evaluation

Abstract Excavation damages are costly, in terms of both direct costs of the utility strike and mending broken constructions or utility lines and indirect costs which are reportedly up to 29 higher than the direct costs. The focus on obtaining accurate and reliable documentation of subsurface infrastructure has, thus, increased in recent years. This study, therefore, investigates if reality capture and augmented reality are usable tools to implement in the Danish construction industry, to improve communication and decision-making during planning of excavation, maintenance of subsurface utilities, and construction of new subsurface infrastructure. This was done through conducting semi-structured interviews with 17 respondents and analysing and discussing the qualitative data compared to the growing body of scientific literature with a distinct focus on subsurface infrastructure and utility strikes avoidance. The study concludes that reality capture and augmented reality are beneficial tools to use in the industry to improve communication and visualisation of the underground. However, lack of reality captured documentation and exchange of existing subsurface infrastructure data in Denmark was identified as a limitation to achieving the potential benefits the tools provide.