A Mobile Device Software to Improve Construction Sites Communications" MoSIC

Abstract

Effective communication among project participants in construction sites is a real dilemma for construction projects productivity. To improve the efficiency of participants in construction projects and have a speedy delivery of these projects, this paper presents the development of a mobile application system to support construction site communication. The developed system is designed to enhance communication between home office employees, field office staff, and mobile users at the construction sites. It has two components: a mobile application and a website. The mobile application component provides users with valuable features such as, receive sites’ instructions, send requests for interpretations and retrieve information about projects. Whereas, the website component allows users, such as, home office employees to track projects’ progress and find projects’ location. The developed system is tested first on emulators and then on Android devices. After that the system was tested on a highway improvement project. Through their mobile phones, site users are able to interact with field office and home office personnel who use the web application to communicate with mobile users. It is expected that this work will contribute to facilitate communication in construction sites, which is much needed in this information intensive sector.