The inspection is vital to Glasgow's hopes of hosting the games
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Commonwealth Games inspectors have said Glasgow is a "wonderful and exciting city" as they arrived to assess whether it should host the 2014 event.
The evaluation committee will spend the next five days examining the city's infrastructure and sporting facilities.
It has already carried out a similar inspection of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, which is Glasgow's only rival for the games.
The city chosen to host the games will be announced on 9 November.
The five-man Commonwealth Games Federation Evaluation Commission is chaired by John Tierney and includes Mike Hooper, head of the Commonwealth Games Federation.
Their findings are expected to play a crucial role in deciding the eventual hosts of the games.
The inspection team's brief is expected to include a wide range of criteria including transport links, accommodation, security and medical facilities.
They will tour venues including Hampden Park, Scotstoun, Ibrox, Celtic Park and the SECC on Monday.
The general social, political and economic climate of Glasgow and Scotland as a whole will also be examined.
Mr Tierney said the commission would restrict itself to a technical assessment of the Glasgow case, and refused to comment on whether Nigeria's bid would be helped by the fact that Africa has never hosted the games before.
'Great promise'
He said: "We understand just how important it is to the people of Glasgow and Scotland to bring these games to this wonderful and exciting city."
The commission visited Abuja last week to evaluate its bid and said afterwards it was a city of "promise" which showed "youthful enthusiasm".
Mr Tierney added: "It has a wide array of sports and entertainment issues, it has drive and ambition for infrastructure growth and growing domestic community.
"It shows great promise as a future games host."
The commission will receive up to 20 hours of presentations around 16 themes of Glasgow's bid.
It will hear from key figures such as Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Willie Rae and city council chief executive George Black.
Organisers of the Glasgow 2014 bid hope the committee will be impressed by the levels of public support they have received.
Shops and businesses across the city having been urged to display a Glasgow 2014 sticker in their windows as part of the Stick Up for Glasgow campaign.
Technical reports on both Glasgow and Abuja will be presented by the evaluation committee to all 71 Commonwealth member states before a vote on who should host the games is held during the Commonwealth Congress in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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We understand just how important it is to the people of Glasgow and Scotland to bring these games to this wonderful and exciting city
