Reality capture technologies, such as laser scanning, photogrammetry and video capture, are revolutionizing the construction industry. The vast field of reality capture has numerous applications in different areas of the construction industry. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a systematic literature review of the current research on the role and the potential of reality capture technology in the construction industry. It highlights the benefits and the challenges of using reality capture technology, especially laser scanning, and discusses the necessary technological infrastructure.
The systematic literature review adheres to the PRISMA approach for conducting this research. To ensure that our search was comprehensive and up-to-date, we conducted a thorough search for journal articles published within the last five years (2019–2023) across two major databases: Scopus and Web of Science.
The findings revealed current capabilities and limitations of reality capture techniques applied to tasks such as progress monitoring, quality control, mapping of as-built environments, detection of faults, visualization and simulation of construction processes and integration with building information modeling (BIM). Key challenges included processing large, complex data; as-built modeling; handling missing data; noise in captured data and cost.
There is a need to develop more robust systems for automated reality capture analysis to support construction professionals. This review will serve as a foundation and identify promising future research and development directions at the intersection of reality capture and the construction industry.
