3D-Visualization of Utility Lines in the Browser using Augmented Reality on Tablets

Locating underground utility lines, such as water pipes is a complex task because they are usually hidden underground.
The aim of this project is to extend and improve the existing solution from the preceding term thesis, which represents an innovative, cost-effective alternative to current solutions.
Other solutions are native applications and depend on expensive hardware.

This project is a web-based augmented reality (AR) application for visualizing underground utility lines on Android tablets.
It utilizes WebXR and WebGL to integrate Building Information Modeling (BIM) data, specifically Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), into a 3D environment.
This involves converting IFC data to a web-optimized 3D format (glTF), using Blender with the BlenderBIM add-on.
The web frameworks used for this application are Vue.js with TypeScript for the frontend and Flask for the backend.
Some other key technologies of this project are Three.js, Turf.js, IfcOpenShell, Keycloak and PostgreSQL with PostGIS.

The original application has its flaws with accurate positioning of utility line models and has limited functionality.
One source of the imprecise alignment of utility line models with the real world is the inaccuracy of the compass sensors used in mobile devices.
Therefore, various features to correct these inaccuracies are introduced with this bachelor thesis.
These features consist of manual position and rotation controls, as well as a guided compass correction.
Other features include colorizing utility lines based on their type, filtering utility lines by their type and automatic loading of utility lines based on the user's location.
Additionally, it's now possible to upload IFC files within the application.
After uploading, the IFC files are converted to glTF in the backend and saved in the database along with the extracted metadata.
In order to upload and view their IFC files, users must first authenticate themselves with either Google or GitHub.
A challenge in this project was the lack of available IFC files to properly test the application.
Nonetheless, the application was developed with the data available and heavy reliance on the IFC standard, which is publicly available.