AUGMENTED REALITY versus VIRTUAL REALITY

AUGMENTED REALITY  is a rapresentation of reality which is modified with additional digital data in the shape of graphics or sounds.
In this respect AUGMENTED REALITY poses itself as a variation to VIRTUAL REALITY or VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS which replace reality with a simulated rapresentation in a digital world in a synthetic environment.
DiGiTaL InFoRmAtIoN is created in an artificial reality and transferred and overlaid to physical reality to enhance the perception of the world with additional data that the user can elaborate in useful information. The virtual objects created potential scenarios with information that the user could not visualize by the 5 senses. The digital information overlaid to the physical reality becomes a INTELLIGENCE AMPLIFICATION (IA) in order to exploit the computer numerical power of processing data to simplify or accelerate human task or to perform tasks in a automated way without human interaction.
AR TECHNOLOGY with Object Recognition and Computer Vision principles supported by hardware solutions such as  head mounted display and virtual retina display for visualization purpouses support the creation of AUGMENTED REALITY.
Ronald Azuma definition states that AUGMENTED REALITY:

1. AR combines real and virtual reality,
2. AR is interactive
3. AR is in real time 
4. AR is registered in 3D

A FUNDAMENTAL STATEMENT

There is always a need for the rate of production in all sphere of industry to increase in order for people to enjoy a higher standard of living.
This statement is critical for the construction industry which is involved in the greatest share of capital investment in most countries.
In order to improve production, new methods and new techniques must constantly be used in view of making investments in the organization, planning and performance of construction work.

To be more specific, in any industry, including construction, there is a constant need for research and development in order to evolve new methods because the increase in productivity is generated in planning and controlling construction work.

Building information Modelling becomes the new method in AEC industry because BIM is an Information Technology approach to work and a solution to some of the problems related to construction work. this is not to say that BIM becomes the substitute of the Project Management standard tools.

TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGE and INNOVATION

Technology advantage is the drive for innovation in any enterprise.
Innovation brings a competitive advantage in terms of higher added value, increased labour productivity and expenses reduction.
Technology advantage applied to AEC industry has led to the creation of 3D digital models.
In itself the creation of 3D model geometry does NOT offset the amount of manpower resources required to create the 3D model itself unless object data can be extracted from the 3D model.
The geometrical data is generated automatically in the creation of the 3D model objects (area, volumes, unit count, dimensions). The meta data is added to the 3D model objects through a semi-automatic process.
Therefore it is critical for the success of a 3D model, the leveraging of the project data.
BIM becomes the merge of the traditional 3D model, albeit parametric object based and the project data created during the design and construction phase of a construction project.
The 3D digital prototypes and the related databases are at the core of BIM activities: engineering analysis, project performance monitoring and forecasting through scenario simulations.

DEFINITION 03

VECTOR GRAPHICS = THE USE OF GEOMETRICAL PRIMITIVES (POINTS, LINES, CURVES, POLYGONS) WHICH ARE BASED ON MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS TO RAPRESENT IMAGES IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS

DEFINITION 02

3D MODELING = the product of  the process of developing a mathematical rapresentation of any 3 dimensional surface of an object via authoring software tools
(http://en.wikipedia.org)

MODEL = to produce a representation or simulation of
(http://www.merriam-webster.com)

DEFINITION 01

BIM = BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING

VDC = VIRTUAL DESIGN CONSTRUCTION