Visualizing blockchain in construction projects: Status quo, challenges, and a guideline for implementation

Abstract

The use of blockchain technology in construction engineering and management (CEM) is increasing, yet current presentations of blockchain-based data management processes (DMP) are considered too primitive to encourage the technology’s broader diffusion in CEM. This research aims to provide a set of guidelines for visualizing blockchain-based DMP in CEM. First, a conceptual model is proposed to guide the research design. Next, 49 cases published in scholarly papers are reviewed, revealing an increasing use of dashboards to visualize blockchain-based DMP. Then, four challenges for visualizing blockchain are identified, namely, data diversity, visualization tools, visualization mediums, and visualization domain. Finally, we present guidelines for visualizing blockchain in construction projects, which involve: (1) targeting the visualization domain, (2) planning the blockchain visualization, (3) choosing a visualization tool, (4) selecting a visualization medium, and (5) fine-tuning the visualization solution. This research encourages researchers to further develop visualization solutions to harness blockchain benefits in CEM.