Interior space GIS: a foundation for campus-wide planning and management

Virginia Tech is in the process of integrating building floor plans into an enterprise GIS to improve campus planning and management. Although Virginia Tech has maintained separate mapping of interior and exterior features for many years, the completion of this project will mark the first time the campus has combined these in a unified viewing environment. By updating the format of the interior space mapping and placing it in a geospatial context, new modes of interaction, analysis, and visualization will be possible. Examples of ways the interior space GIS may be used include: space accounting and management, fixed asset and hazardous substance mapping, precise E-911 response and situational awareness, wayfinding and evacuation routing, visualization of campus populations by day and time, and links to other documentation stored in the digital plans library or work order management system. The interior space GIS will be a generalized depiction of interior spaces based on existing floor plans. As Building Information Model (BIM) files become available for newly constructed buildings, and interior space surveys improve the mapping of existing buildings, the accuracy of interior space GIS will improve.