Transportation projects are unique projects that have many issues such as ROW acquisition, traffic control, and utilities. To help solve some of these issues projects should utilize constructability. Over the past 25 years research on constructability has consistently shown to have substantial cost and schedule benefits. To fully obtain those benefits, constructability should be utilized from the very beginning of the project at the conceptual planning phase. One of the tools to support implementation is 3D and 4D visualization. The benefits and applications of 3D and 4D for transportation project research is still lagging behind building projects. This thesis aims to provide a frame work for how 3D and 4D visualization could have an impactful role if used in the early planning and design process. Two case studies are used for developing that frame work, the Woodall Rodgers Deck Plaza and the Eastern Extension of President George Bush Turnpike projects in Dallas, Texas. Information taken from interviews of Texas Department of Transportation staff are used to develop a list of issues for each project, as well as the impacts those issues have had on the project. For each of those issues a proposal of how using 3D and 4D visualization could help mitigate those issues when implemented during the early planning phases. / text

The Skellefte ore district in northern Sweden is a Palaeoproterozoic volcanic arc and one of the most important ones hosting volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits, producing mainly base metals and orogenic gold deposits. Due to high metal prices and increased difficulties in finding shallow deposits, the exploration for and exploitation of mineral resources is quickly being moved to greater depths. For this reason, a better understanding of the geological structures in 3D down to a few kilometers depth is required as a tool for ore targeting. As exploration and mining go deeper, it becomes more and more evident why a good understanding of geology in 3D at exploration depths, and even greater, is important to optimize both exploration and mining. Following a successful pilot 3D geological modeling project in the western part of the district, the Kristineberg mining area, a new project "VINNOVA 4D modeling of the Skellefte district" was launched in 2008, with the aim of improving the existing models, especially at shallow depth and extending the models to the central district. More than 100 km of reflection seismic (crooked) profiles were acquired, processed and interpreted in conjunction with geological observations and potential field data. Results were used to constrain the 3D geological model of the study area and provided new insights about the geology and mineral potential at depth. Results along the seismic profiles in the Kristineberg mining area proved the capability of the method for imaging reflections associated with mineralization zones in the area, and we could suggest that the Kristineberg mineralization and associated structures dip to the south down to at least a depth of about 2 km. In the central Skellefte area, we were able to correlate main reflections and diffractions with the major faults and shear zones. Cross-dip analysis, reflection modeling, pre-stack time migration, swath 3D processing and finite-difference seismic modeling allowed insights about the origin of some of the observed reflections and in defining the imaging challenges in the associated geological environments. / VINNOVA 4D modeling of the Skellefte district