Building rooftop intelligence gathering and decision-support system and methods of augmented-reality supported building inspection

Abstract

A building intelligence gathering, assessment and decision-support system including a GPS system deployed about the Earth and supporting a plurality of GPS satellites for transmitting GPS signals to the surface of the Earth. A building data sensor network, including a plurality of GPS-tracked rooftop-mounted sensors, are mounted on the rooftop surface of the building, and adapted for collecting GPS-indexed data specifying conditions on the rooftop surface at particular dates and times of the year. The building rooftop conditions includes one or more conditions selected from the group consisting of snow load conditions, windspeed and direction, and temperature. The system also includes one or more hand-held mobile augmented-reality (AR) based rooftop navigation and inspection devices, each configured for communication with communication servers within a data center over a wireless data communication network. Each hand-held mobile AR-based inspection device is capable displaying digital images of objects and scenery captured in its field of view (FOV) while the user is moving about the rooftop surface, along with graphical indications of GPS-tracked rooftop-mounted sensors collecting data regarding conditions on the building rooftop surface. By virtue of the present invention, users can now navigate building rooftops, inspect rooftop situations, identify where GPS-tracked rooftop-mounted sensors have been installed, and quickly determine where particular conditions have been automatically detected during rooftop inspections.