A taxonomy of reasoning mechanisms and data synchronization framework for road excavation productivity monitoring

Project management tasks, such as productivity monitoring and cost estimation, require data to be fused from multiple data sources, which are typically spatial and temporal in nature. In order to fuse a pair of spatial and temporal data sources, a number of different types of reasoning mechanisms are needed. This paper presents a taxonomy of spatial and temporal reasoning mechanisms needed to fuse spatial and temporal data sources to support construction productivity monitoring. In addition, the paper also describes two different approaches (i.e., interpolation and nearest neighbor approaches) that can be used to synchronize the temporal and/or spatial data sources. The developed taxonomy has been validated based on representative queries of construction engineers and managers that are identified in previous research studies. The interpolation and nearest neighbor approaches have been validated with real and simulated construction data sources. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.