Enabling connected construction sites: User interface design for enhanced situation awareness and usability in a construction application for mobile devices

Abstract

Despite the potential for improvements of processes and productivity, the construction industry has undergone low levels of digitization and relatively little research about user experience and interface design in the area has been conducted. This thesis aims to contribute to the area through outlining the specific needs of users in the industry and to suggest how the user interface design of a mobile application can be implemented to aid user acceptance, improve usability and user experience and contribute to generating situation awareness among its users. The development concerns five focus areas (location description, setting up new devices, data visualization, setting up new projects and messaging) of the construction tech company Brinja’s app. Through in-depth interviews with 12 stakeholders, the current processes and user needs in relation to the construction app have been investigated. These have uncovered large variations in the technical systems used and the user needs. To understand these, a number of tasks that need to be supported in the app design have been identified. Digital prototypes of design suggestions for user interfaces have been developed with the research insights as a framework. Situation awareness on construction sites has been found to be lacking due to difficulties in gaining an overview of processes and spreading safety critical information, despite extensive undertakings to reach out with information. A user interface for a messaging function and a new way of visualizing data is proposed as a remedy. Furthermore, variations in internal systems and resistance to adapt to new solutions and conventions has been found to limit the possibilities for location descriptions within the app to accurately map to the real world and acceptance of new solutions. A data model for location description, that is possible to incorporate into the varying internal systems used at construction sites, is proposed. Furthermore, user interface designs optimized for task completion and acceptance for users without prior experience of setting up devices and projects in Brinja’s app have been developed. Evaluations of the prototypes have indicated high levels of user acceptance and the potential to drastically improve the preconditions for generating situation awareness as well as supporting the users’ tasks to increase efficiency. The findings and solutions proposed can also be used as a knowledge framework for future endeavors in the digitization of the construction industry, specifically regarding the development of user interfaces.