A Social Networking Enabled Crowdsourcing System for Integrated Infrastructure Asset Management

Abstract

Emerging information and communication technologies like building information modeling, internet of things, social networking, cloud computing, big data analytics, mobile application and so on serve as important catalysts to transform the practices of infrastructure asset management (IAM). Owners, occupiers, managers, operators and contractors of infrastructure facilities can now capture, process, share, integrate, and analyze data related to various infrastructure facilities collaboratively and cooperatively to achieve an integrated whole life cycle IAM. This should help improve the overall efficiency of a community and/or city through optimized resource allocation; reduced maintenance and refurbishment cost; less energy consumption; lower risks of service disruption; increased transparency; and better strategic, tactical and operational decisions. This paper outlines the development of a social networking enabled crowdsourcing system for integrated IAM. The system is designed to satisfy the requirements of different stakeholders in managing, operating and repairing a series of interdependent infrastructure facilities. Preliminary studies on the residential sector of Hong Kong reveal that the system could help improve the communication between stakeholders, enhance the transparency and effectiveness of asset management, and reduce the risks of bid-rigging in the repair and maintenance schemes. By integrating the proposed system with the existing systems being adopted throughout the entire building life cycle, such as the building information modeling and asset management systems, facility condition, and usage data that is difficult to obtain through traditional means can now be crowdsourced, co-created, or co-processed for facility performance analysis, complaint analysis, and service scheduling analysis.