Mapping the future of facilities with GIS

July 30, 2021

Vanessa Finnie

Read three user stories that describe how indoor GIS was used to digitally transform the way assets are managed, the way data is used and shared across different departments, and the way facilities are used by office and contract workers.

The most obvious and immediate situation facing office and facility managers today is the return of employees to their offices. In this blog post, we discuss how GIS can support the transition post-COVID by ensuring that facilities are ready for occupants. We’ve also written about creating a safe campus for students and faculty, but the same ideas apply to any organization with shared workspaces, indoor assets and multiple buildings to manage.

Still want to learn more about how organizations are using location intelligence and GIS indoors to manage all their indoor data and consolidate disparate systems?

Raleigh Water Uses ArcGIS Indoors for Asset Management

This case study describes how Raleigh Water implemented an asset management program for above-ground water and wastewater treatment facilities that focused on preventative maintenance and reactive work activities, and integrated with the utility’s existing computer maintenance management software. ArcGIS Indoors was selected for mapping interior spaces of the facilities because it supported the integration of GIS above-ground asset inventory. By leveraging Esri solutions, Raleigh Water was able to shift away from a tabular listing of asset types and move to a visual view of individual assets that displays more detailed information. New insights gained from ArcGIS Indoors into the operations of the utility's facilities are now supporting budgeting decisions for maintenance and capital improvements.

Raleigh Water Administration and Laboratory Buildings in the ArcGIS Indoor Information Model

An Indoor Story - Michigan State University (MSU)

This story map explores MSU’s journey to bring GIS -- which they had been using outside campus buildings -- inside buildings. Many capabilities were implemented. PDFs of floorplans were replaced with a digital basemap. A strong emphasis on building sustainable processes was important, automating as much of the process as possible. For security, access to facilities data was divided into three levels and each one requires different approval for access. More detailed floorplans can be made available with approved access. A training program was developed to teach front-line staff how to get asset information on their mobile devices.

To date, the program has mapped over 29,000 assets and on average has found 150 previously untracked maintained assets per building.

Scroll to the bottom of the story map to watch a 1-minute video of the MSU Indoors proof-of-concept.

German Universities Explore Indoor Mapping

As longtime Esri users, both the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS) and University of Applied Sciences Dresden (HTW) offer students geoinformation-related degree programs. Students from both universities recently explored the benefits and possibilities of ArcGIS Indoors. Students sought to investigate techniques to implement ArcGIS Indoors and how it could create a common operating picture of university buildings. Based on their research, students proceeded to design an app. The app provides campus navigation, routing, and location sharing resources university-wide. Both universities continue to provide students with diverse research opportunities such as indoor mapping to foster growth in the future of geoinformation and location-based sciences.

The desktop version of Roch's web app shows an outdoor navigation route leading from a basement to an office. The app pulls information from a site plan basemap.