Extract floor plan features from PDFs

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

You can create polyline features from PDFs of floor plans and use them to generate features in an Indoors workspace using tools in the Indoors toolbox. This can be helpful for creating an indoor GIS for spaces where CAD or BIM data is unavailable.

Importing PDF data to an Indoors workspace involves the following high-level steps:

1. Optionally, georeference the PDF.
2. Extract polyline features from the PDF using the Extract Floor Plan Features From PDF tool.

   Note:

   Any text detected in the PDF is removed from the extracted polylines.

3. Inspect the output polylines and edit them as necessary to ensure that they reflect building floor plans to an acceptable level of detail and accuracy.
4. Use the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool to create Unit, Level, Facility, and optionally Detail features in an Indoors workspace based on the extracted polyline features.
5. Inspect the output features and add attribution as necessary.

Each step is described in the sections below.

Georeference PDF data

You can georeference the PDF before generating polylines by adding individual PDF pages to a map in ArcGIS Pro and using control points to move, scale, and rotate them to the correct location. When georeferencing PDFs, you must georeference each page individually.

If you don't georeference PDFs before running the Extract Floor Plan Features From PDF tool, you can use the Transform tool to move, scale, and rotate the polyline features before running the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool.

When doors are properly attributed and used with the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool, the resulting unit boundaries will not include the door swings. The unit on the image A was imported without using the Door Identifier parameter, while the unit on image B was imported using the Door Identifier parameter.

Note:

Georeferencing to a projected coordinate system is recommended. If georeferencing to a geographic coordinate system, features may not transform successfully, leading to incorrectly located data.

Extraction of polyline features from PDF data

The Extract Floor Plan Features From PDF tool extracts polyline features from the PDF, excluding elements it identifies as text. The output polylines from this tool can be refined with editing tools and used to create features in an Indoors workspace with data using the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool for use in floor-aware maps and scenes.

Keep the following in mind when using the Extract Floor Plan Features From PDF tool:

• If the input PDF has multiple pages, use the Page Number parameter to extract polyline features for a single page.
• Use the Extent parameter to extract lines for a specific facility or area within a facility, and reduce artifacts caused by ancillary PDF information, such as legends or tables of architectural information.

Inspect the output

After extracting polyline features, you can modify linework as needed before using it to create features in an indoor GIS. For example, you can modify or remove linework caused by text boxes, tables, PDF symbology, and other PDF elements as needed.

Cleanup work may involve creating new lines or modifying vertices to close gaps in walls (for example, where text intersected a wall in the PDF), selecting and deleting unwanted features, and moving or reshaping linework for accuracy and simplification. You can use tools in the Create Features and Modify Features panes to inspect and modify the polyline features.

Additionally, inspect the features detected and attributed as doors in the USE_TYPE field and edit the attributes as needed. Doors can be closed to create unit boundaries in an Indoors workspace, and ensuring correct attribution at this step can prevent the need for more cleanup work later.

Note:

When running the Extract Floor Plan Features From PDF tool, the output polylines are created with a z-value of 0. When creating or modifying features with editing tools, ensure that the default z-value of new features is 0. The appropriate z-value for your building features can be set when running the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool using the Elevation of Level parameter.

Import polylines to an Indoors workspace

After generating polylines from PDF data and performing any required cleanup work, you can use the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool to populate create units, levels, facilities, and details features in an Indoors workspace based on the polyline features. You can later create new features or modify existing ones in the details layer using editing tools in ArcGIS Pro, Floor Plan Editor, or a preconfigured map template.

The tool supports importing one level at a time, and requires you to define information such as facility name, level name, vertical order, and level elevation to populate feature attributes and enable functionality with indoor GIS workflows.

Advanced options within the tool settings allow you to further control the behavior of how polygons are created. For example, the Minimum Unit Width and Minimum Unit Area parameters can be used to exclude small or narrow spaces when creating units (such as the spaces inside walls), and the Door Identifier parameter can be used to define and close doors from the polyline.

You can close doors detected in the output polyline features to create units using the Door Identifier parameter in the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool. Units with closed doors do not have door swings as part of the unit boundary.

Details features created by the Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool inherit the USE_TYPE field value of the source polylines. Properly closed and attributed doors are critical for generating an indoor routable network and are also useful for visualization.

Population of attributes in the Indoors workspace

After importing the polyline features to an Indoors workspace, you can populate additional attributes in the indoor dataset.

The Import Features To Indoor Dataset tool populates attributes needed to establish hierarchical relationships between features in the Facilities, Levels, Units, and Details layers, as well as the attributes needed to support floor awareness in a map. You can populate additional attributes used for symbology, labeling, or additional indoor GIS functionality.

The following is a list of example use cases for attributes:

• Map symbology—The USE_TYPE field in the Units layer is used to support unique symbology for offices, corridors, and other traversable spaces to make them easily identifiable on an indoor map.
• Labeling and search—The NAME field in the Units layer is used to support displaying room names and searching capabilities in the Indoors web and mobile apps.
• Indoor navigation—The USE_TYPE field in the Units and Details layers is used to support identification of traversable spaces and barriers when generating pathways and floor transitions for an indoor routable network.