The digitization that is impacting the construction sector still encounters areas where it is hindered. Safety is one of them—in Italy, even health and safety plans have to be digitally modeled. In this article, a methodology is presented for the digitization of health and safety plans and their visualization on-site using augmented reality and a seamless system for indoor–outdoor localization. Safety requirements for equipment are modeled as customized property within BIM models. Then, the interoperable-format IFC is used to upload the model in a BIM platform. On-site outdoor localization is ensured by a GPS-RTK system, while for indoor spaces, an artificial intelligence algorithm that recognizes features is used. In this research, an application that supports a seamless outdoor–indoor transition is proposed, with the display of inspection information through augmented reality and a blockchain notarization of images taken on-site and aligned with BIM models. The results of indoor and outdoor alignment are presented below. The experiment regarding augmented reality information display and the photo notarization procedure are also reported. This methodology improves the site inspection process by supporting the traceability of operations.

Despite its great potential, Augmented Reality (AR) still struggles to be widely used in real processes in the construction industry. This is mainly due to limitations associated with current AR registration methodologies, including the lack of continuity between different scenarios, drifts over distances, and the need to prepare the scene in advance with alignment infrastructures and to resort to manual registration procedures. In addition, users may not be skilled enough or allowed to prepare the considered environment, since this is a task that requires a significant amount of measurement and calibration. To promote the application of AR in Facility Management (FM), which typically involves both complex indoor and outdoor environments, an automatic localization method is needed, thus providing accurate AR registration in mixed and unprepared environments. In order to fill this gap, a system implementing a markerless approach for seamless indoor-outdoor AR registration has been developed by integrating multiple AR registration engines with a cloud platform. These engines, primarily relying on Global Navigation Satellite Systems Real-Time Kinematic (GNSS-RTK) and Computer Vision (CV) technologies, are managed by an additional system component that automatically assigns priority depending on the current scenario. The system proposed in this study is tested on site on an FM use case related to a university campus for qualitative assessment. Furthermore, a quantitative assessment of the system’s accuracy is also performed. In both evaluations, the system shows very promising results in terms of (i) applicability for FM operations, and (ii) accuracy. Specifically, BIM holograms are automatically superimposed to their real counterparts seamlessly, in mixed indoor-outdoor scenarios, without manual procedures, demonstrating applicability of the proposed approach in unprepared environments. In terms of accuracy, the AR overlaying discrepancies in outdoor and indoor scenarios (D_(L-SQ)) result equals 0.090 m and 0.082 m with a maximum among all the analyzed scenes (D_M) of 0.075 m and 0.071 m, respectively. Given these results, the work presented in this paper provides a substantial contribution to the dissemination of AR technologies in the FM field and to the support of FM activities in terms of better coordination, visualization, communication and on-field access to high-quality information. This paper extends the work presented at the 23rd International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR 2023).

Since statistics show a growing trend in blindness and visual impairment, the development of navigation systems supporting Blind and Visually Impaired People (BVIP) must be urgently addressed. Guiding BVIP to a desired destination across indoor and outdoor settings without relying on a pre-installed infrastructure is an open challenge. While numerous solutions have been proposed by researchers in recent decades, a comprehensive navigation system that can support BVIP mobility in mixed and unprepared environments is still missing. This study proposes a novel navigation system that enables BVIP to request directions and be guided to a desired destination across heterogeneous and unprepared settings. To achieve this, the system applies Computer Vision (CV)—namely an integrated Structure from Motion (SfM) pipeline—for tracking the user and exploits Building Information Modelling (BIM) semantics for planning the reference path to reach the destination. Audio Augmented Reality (AAR) technology is adopted for directional guidance delivery due to its intuitive and non-intrusive nature, which allows seamless integration with traditional mobility aids (e.g., white canes or guide dogs). The developed system was tested on a university campus to assess its performance during both path planning and navigation tasks, the latter involving users in both blindfolded and sighted conditions. Quantitative results indicate that the system computed paths in about 10 milliseconds and effectively guided blindfolded users to their destination, achieving performance comparable to that of sighted users. Remarkably, users in blindfolded conditions completed navigation tests with an average deviation from the reference path within the 0.60-meter shoulder width threshold in 100% of the trials, compared to 75% of the tests conducted by sighted users. These findings demonstrate the system’s accuracy in maintaining navigational alignment within acceptable human spatial tolerances. The proposed approach contributes to the advancement of BVIP assistive technologies by enabling scalable, infrastructure-free navigation across heterogeneous environments.