Research Article Open Access

Implementation Barriers of Mobile Environmental Information System for Environmental Surveillance on Construction Sites

Abstract

The use of Mobile Environmental Information System (MEIS) which integrates the use of mobile web, devices and wireless sensor networks has the potential to enhance environmental information management and communication processes among users and play an important role in field data acquisition and validation, to provide real-time environmental data monitoring and, more importantly, to provide warning signs in the areas of construction activities that require immediate corrective action. However, the understanding on the anticipated barriers for any proposed systems that may arise during the implementation of the system are important to ensure the sustainability of the systems in the long run. In this paper, this issue was addressed through the prototype demonstration and evaluation sessions where the respondents had the opportunity to highlight the implementation barriers while testing the functions of the ENSOCS web by using smartphones to perform the pre-defined tasks. As a result, the practitioners in Malaysia and the UK had highlighted that these barriers include return on investment, operational cost, legality issues, work procedures issues, technology and technical issues, technology adoption barriers and network infrastructure. Therefore, from this research, the developers of mobile applications would obtain valuable input with regards to understanding the requirements of construction environmental management teams as well as the limitation for the implementation of MEIS within the construction industry.

Aizul Nahar Harun , Erik Bichard

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