Load occupant data

Available with the ArcGIS Indoors Pro or ArcGIS Indoors Maps extension.

You can add data about occupants to an Indoors database and integrate it into floor-aware maps and apps. For example, you can use Indoor Space Planner to manage employee assignments to offices and hotel areas, search for occupants and route to them in Indoor Viewer or Indoors Mobile, or enable workspace reservations so that occupants can book meeting rooms and office hotels.

When you run the Create Indoors Database tool, it creates the Occupants feature class in the Indoors database. After loading floor plans into a database, you can import occupant information from external systems or tables. Occupant data can be loaded from a geodatabase table, a .csv file, or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (.xls or .xlsx file) that contains the required fields.

You can use the Update Occupant Features tool to import the occupant data and spatialize it for search and routing functionality. You can periodically update occupant information, seating assignments, or floor plan updates and add, delete, or modify occupant features.

Occupant table requirements

The Input Occupant Table must include information that can uniquely identify each occupant and one or more fields that store occupant space assignment information. The Unit Identifier and the Occupant Identifier can be used to associate table records with building space features. Any field that is used to uniquely identify an occupant or unit can be used as the primary key field.

Note:

The Update Occupant Features tool supports loading occupants that are not assigned to a space. If the field identified in the Unit Identifier (Input Occupant Table) parameter has a NULL or empty value, the occupant is loaded as unassigned (they are not assigned to a unit).

To update occupant attributes without updating space assignments in the Occupants feature class, you can run the tool without including values for the following parameters: Input Unit Features, Unit Identifier (Input Units Features), and Unit Identifier (Input Occupant Table). Only fields mapped in the Occupant Attributes Mapping parameter will be updated.

The following two required fields must be present in the source table:

  • KNOWNAS—The occupant's name
  • EMAIL—The occupant's email address
Add the following fields to enhance the Space Planner app experience:

In addition, more fields containing data related to occupants, such as employee number, can be added as needed.

Occupant table fields

The following fields are created in the Occupants feature class and you can load data to them when you run the Update Occupant Features tool. You can create and store additional fields in the Occupants feature class using the Add Field tool and load data into them to maintain additional information about occupants before you run the Update Occupant Features tool. For example, you may want to create a field to maintain a secondary phone number or an employee ID number. You can use the Occupant Attributes Mapping parameter to load custom fields in the tool.

KNOWNAS

An occupant can be known by a name other than their first name, and is more likely to be searched for in the app by their known name.

For example, if an occupant whose first name is Anthony and whose last name is Palmer goes by Scooter, most users will search for him in the app using Scooter Palmer. The KNOWNAS field would contain this known name.

EMAIL

Two occupants can have the same known name, but their email addresses should be different. In this situation, Indoors uses the EMAIL field to identify unique occupants. This field must contain a valid email address for each occupant to enable workspace reservations in the Indoors web and mobile apps.

CONTACT_PHONE

In this column, you can store phone numbers where the occupant can be reached directly. Additional characters or spacing in phone numbers is supported, but it is recommended that you store phone numbers as a set of digits. International calling codes can be included.

For example, +19097932853 is recommended instead of +1 (909) 793 2853 or +1 909-793-2853.

CONTACT_EXTENSION

Depending on the telephone system in your organization, there may be an interactive voice response (IVR) configured with specific codes assigned to different departments and extension numbers set up that need to be dialed to reach an occupant. Indoors supports this type of setup and combines the two numbers when initiating a phone call from ArcGIS Indoors for iOS or ArcGIS Indoors for Android.

For example, if the IVR code to reach the receptionist is 0, store 9097932853 in CONTACT_PHONE and 0 in the CONTACT_EXTENSION field.

Tip:

If more than one extension code is needed to reach an occupant, separate the values using a comma.

For example, if the IVR code for a department is 5 and the extension number is 1234, store the number as 5,1234 in the CONTACT_EXTENSION field.

ORG_LEVEL_1

The Space Planner app includes filters to help users quickly find and assign occupants to spaces. By default, this field represents the Department the occupant is assigned to in your organization's hierarchy. You can modify the meaning of this attribute by altering the field's alias in the output feature class to represent the level of the organization you want to filter by.

ORG_LEVEL_2

The Space Planner app includes filters to help users quickly find and assign occupants to spaces. By default, this field represents the Team the occupant is assigned to in your organization's hierarchy. You can modify the meaning of this attribute by altering the field's alias in the output feature class to represent the level of the organization you want to filter by.

JOB_TITLE

The Space Planner app includes filters to help users quickly find and assign occupants to spaces. Including this field in your input table and populating it with occupants' job titles allows you to filter by job title when assigning occupants to spaces, making it easier to evaluate space requirements by role or position.

START_DATE

The Space Planner app includes filters to help users quickly find and assign occupants to spaces. Including this field in your input table and populating it with occupants' start dates allows you to filter by start date when assigning occupants to spaces, making it easier to evaluate space requirements by seniority.

SITE_ID

Records the unique ID of the feature’s associated site and can be used to identify the feature’s associated site feature in floor-aware maps. A feature can only be related to a single site using the Site ID field. This field is only populated if you specifically map it using the Occupant Attributes Mapping parameter in the Update Occupant Features tool.

Load occupant data to the Occupants feature class

You can load occupant data to the Occupants feature class generated by the Create Indoor Database tool by completing the following:

  1. Prepare your Occupants data as a geodatabase table, .csv file, or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (.xls or .xlsx file). Ensure it includes the required fields ( KNOWNAS and EMAIL) as well as any other fields you want to include.
  2. Run the Update Occupants Features tool.
    Note:

    If you are using Indoor Viewer or the Indoors mobile apps, the layer that contains your occupants layer must be named People or Occupants.

The tool synchronizes the Target Occupant Features with the Input Occupant Table. New occupants are added, removed occupants are deleted, and matching occupants have their information updated.

The Update Occupant Features tool updates the ASSIGNMENT_TYPE values for units in the Units feature class that have occupants assigned and unassigned. The ASSIGNMENT_TYPE attribute drives specific features of the Space Planner app. Ensure the Unit's ASSIGNMENT_TYPE value is set to Office for spaces that are occupied before sharing the data to be used for Space Planner, Indoor Viewer, or Indoors Mobile. In future updates of the occupants features, the tool will automatically update the ASSIGNMENT_TYPE value to reflect the latest occupant data.

Related topics