Innovation

OpenSpace: The ‘Google Street View’ of Construction

OpenSpace uses AI to create 360-degree photo representations of construction sites.

Updated on

October 16, 2019

A silhouette of project managers at a construction site. PHOTO | FILE

A California-based tech startup has unveiled software that allows remote assessment of construction sites and has received $14 million (Sh1.4 billion) worth of funding from a group of investors to help scale up its operations.

OpenSpace, which was founded in September 2017, uses artificial intelligence-driven technology to capture pilotable, 360-degree photo representations of a construction site – which boosts communication between managers and workers.

To capture the images, a worker attaches a small camera to his hardhat and then moves around the construction site as normal – with the software taking photographs in the background.

The images are then uploaded to the cloud, where systems map the photos to project plans and “stitch” them together, OpenSpace says, making a visual representation of the site comparable to Google Street View.

Over time, this creates a mine of data that allows construction experts to review site conditions from days, weeks, months or years in the past.

OpenSpace automatically pins the images to floor plans for easy navigation.

“The utility of OpenSpace is its ease of use and the intelligence that autotags the images based on the floor plan, and with a timestamp,” says Suffolk Construction executive VP and chief data officer Jit Kee Chin.

Suffolk is one of the key users and latest financiers of OpenSpace. Others include co-working giant WeWork and property developer Tishman Speyer.

Suffolk piloted the software at a project in New York and found it useful for managers to share updates with the client, who was located in miles away.

“The owners didn’t need to solely rely on our account because they could physically experience what it’s like to walk through the site without actually being there,” Chin said, adding that the software makes the conversation between parties much easier.

OpenSpace, she noted, is useful for capturing the interiors of skyscrapers – which is not easily done with drones.

It is also helpful for recording what is inside a wall or pit before it is filled up, thus empowering site managers to better organise their records.

“With so many current benefits to OpenSpace, a strong team and an exciting product roadmap,” it was attractive for Suffolk to take part in the latest round of funding, Chin said.