A Study on Utilization of Digital Photographs in the Construction Industry

Digital photography is becoming an important technology used in the construction industry. Digital photographs taken from project sites can be used for a multitude of reasons by construction companies, including for communicating with all parties involved in the construction project; for documenting as-built information; for scheduling; for recording data for building maintenance and facility management; for legal issues, and for business development and marketing. However, there is not a system adopted by the construction industry as a standard of how to acquire, store, manage and retrieve digital photos so that they can be used in a comprehensive and cost efficient manner. This paper explains the authors ’ findings of capture and utilization of digital photographs in the construction industry that are obtained from a study that includes an online survey and ten interviews. This paper also presents a prototype “Digital Image Shooting Guide ” as a recommended standard for construction field personnel to follow when taking digital photos. Furthermore, some basic terminology and techniques of digital photography that can be used in construction are introduced