From BIM to metaverse for AEC industry

BIM-to-Metaverse offers benefits to the AEC industry, but the challenge of efficiently and effectively implementing it will be formidable and require several years. The objective of this study is to identify the outsourcing forms of this new technology for construction project stakeholders and to explore its associated implementation challenges. Specifically addressed will be (a) innovations in XR technologies and how to convert BIM models to XR models for visualization in the metaverse, (b) an integrated definition function (IDEF0) model that describes how to prepare the BIM model for metaverse, (c) a use case for utilizing metaverse in the AEC industry and an evaluation of the concerns that must be resolved prior to successful implementation, and (d) an example illustrating the process. The metaverse implementation in design and construction can enhance collaboration, productivity, and quality but implementation cost, data security, and hardware and software interoperability are major challenges in its implementation.