Keywords: information-communication technology, information communication technology, architecture engineering and construction, collaboration, integration, interoperability, requirements, end-user scenarios, roadmap.

One of the key challenges for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) domain is to provide efficient, effective and flexible access to information and to provide all possible channels of communication [1]. Thus, the integration and interoperability of engineering software applications supporting the design and construction of the built environment have been providing some of the most challenging problems for the application of information and communication technologies [2].

Most of the tools supporting collaboration today enable one-time and just-in-case communication, but lack stronger, systematic and structured support for just-in-time connections. The emerging problems are still solved in traditional ways, usually by phone, in the form of informal communication. Kraut et al. [3] argue that informal communication is an important mechanism that helps all members of a project to achieve both the production and social goals of the team. Informal communication is spontaneous, interactive and rich. That is why it is important to address the challenge of supporting informal communication through the use of information (communication) technology (I(C)T) in order to provide a additional channel for successful collaboration among different AEC project partners.

The fact is that at first the potential of ICT and Web based technology in the AEC domain was discovered because of the possibility for a more advanced communication. The current state of the AEC (and probably any other) industry is that there is always a shortage of working personnel, distributed over a number of remote locations such as construction sites, offices and workrooms. To be able to have a close connection to all of the parties involved is a valuable privilege and was (before the explosion of the ICT) almost impossible task. That is why the communication part of the Web (and ICT) technology was almost instantly adopted and has been widely used since.

There have been a number of European projects dealing with platforms for the successful collaboration of virtual organisations. A majority of them started in order to investigate potentials of information-communication technologies (internet, web, etc.). The common denomination of all those projects is that they follow the development of the technological environment perfectly, with a small discrepancy in time.

The paper describes the above mentioned challenges, from discussing general engineering end-user scenarios and requirements, current and emerging information-communication technologies, to outlining proposed solutions and tools developed by various research projects. Some predictions on the future research and development of information-communication technology for AEC are given to conclude the paper.

[1]

R. Klinc, M. Dolenc, Z. Turk, "Engineering collaboration 2.0: requirements and expectations", ITcon, 14, Special Issue Next Generation Construction IT: Technology Foresight, Future Studies, Roadmapping, and Scenario Planning, 473-488, 2009. http://www.itcon.org/2009/31

[2]

M. Dolenc, P. Katranuschkov, A. Gehre, K. Kurowski, Z. Turk, "The InteliGrid platform for virtual organisations interoperability", ITcon, 12, 459-477, 2007. http://www.itcon.org/2007/30

[3]

R. Kraut, D. Gergle, S. Fussell, "The Use of Visual Information in Shared Visual Spaces: Informing the Development of Virtual Co-presence", Proceedings Computer-supported collaborative work 2002. New Orleans, LA. New York, ACM Press, 31-40, 2002.

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