Life Cycle Modelling and Design Knowledge Development in Virtual Environments

The construction industry has been adapting information technology including virtual environments in the life cycle of buildings in terms of design, construction, operation and maintenance. The data generated using information technology within the construction industry has become increasingly overwhelming. Data mining presents an opportunity to increase significantly the rate at which the volumes of data generated through the building life cycle can be turned into useful information. This can be done by discovering patterns and correlations within a large volume of data. This Chapter presents a virtual mining environment developed to provide dynamic decision support to improve building life-cycle modelling and management.. This virtual mining environment integrates data mining with agent-based technology, database management systems, object-based CAD systems, and 3D virtual environments. A system prototype has been developed and 2 implemented to support the automated feed back of k...