Create events data

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

After importing floor plans, you can manually create events data for use in Indoor Viewer and Indoors mobile.

Indoors supports two methods of creating and managing events data in maps:

  • Custom-modeled floor-aware layers
  • The Events feature class created by the Create Indoors Database or Upgrade Indoors Database tool

Required fields

If you are using a custom modeled layer to maintain events data, you must add fields to enable functionality in the Indoors web and mobile apps.

The following required fields are used by the Indoors web and mobile apps and must be included in the Events layer:

Field nameTypeDescription

DATE_END

Date

Defines the end date for the event in coordinated universal time (UTC).

DATE_START

Date

Defines the start date for the event in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

DESCRIPTION

Text

Provides a description of the feature for use in turn-by-turn directions.

EVENT_ID

Text

Defines a unique ID for the feature. This value must be unique in the table.

IMAGE_URL

Text

Provides a URL for displaying a single associated image in pop-ups in the Indoors web and mobile apps.

LEVEL_ID

Text

Records the unique ID of the feature’s associated level. This ID is used to identify the feature’s associated level feature in floor-aware maps. A feature can only be related to a single level using the Level ID field.

NAME

Text

Defines the name of the event.

USE_TYPE

Text

Defines the event type. This value is used to filter events by type in Viewer and the Indoors mobile apps.

Create events

Ensure that your Events table contains a location attribute UNIT_ID that matches the UNIT_ID for the unit feature where the event is taking place. The events can come from a class schedule, Microsoft Exchange Server, a conference agenda, a spreadsheet, or another business system or live service. To load event data, you must combine a spreadsheet or table of events with the Units feature class and output a 3D point of the joined location and event information.

Note:

Event date and time must be stored in UTC.

  1. Load the tabular events data into a table in the geodatabase that contains an indoor dataset.

    For example, you can use the Excel To Table tool.

    Note:

    Ensure that the events table contains a location attribute UNIT_ID that matches the UNIT_ID attribute of the Units feature class. These attributes are used to join the unit and location details to each event.

  2. Use the Calculate Geometry Attributes tool to calculate the x-, y-, and z-coordinates for the Units feature class and add them as fields.
    1. For the Input Features parameter, choose the Units layer.
    2. For the Geometry Attributes parameter, specify the following three fields to create that will contain the centroids for the x-, y-, and z-coordinates.

      Field (existing or new)Property

      INSIDE_X

      Centroid x-coordinate

      INSIDE_Y

      Central point y-coordinate

      INSIDE_Z

      Central point z-coordinate

    3. Click Run.

    The INSIDE_X, INSIDE_Y, and INSIDE_Z fields are added to the Units feature class and populated with the x-, y-, and z-coordinates of the unit centroids.

  3. Use the Join tool to join the Units layer to the imported events table.
    1. Right-click the Events table, click Joins and Relates, and click Add Join.
    2. Choose the location field from the Events table for the Input Join Field parameter.
    3. Choose the Units feature class for the Join Table parameter.
    4. Choose the UNIT_ID field for the Join Table Field parameter.
  4. Run the Make XY Event Layer tool on the joined table.
    Tip:

    Use the INSIDE_X, INSIDE_Y, and INSIDE_Z attributes.

  5. Run the Copy Features tool to create a temporary point feature class.
  6. Use the Append tool to load the point features into the Events feature class.
    Tip:

    Use the Schema Type Field Map option to match the attributes of input points to the target dataset.

You can now add the Events feature class to the map, configure the layer as floor aware, and include it when you prepare maps for Indoor Viewer and Indoors Mobile.

Update events

You can update event features to add new events to the Events layer or to change the geometry to account for floor plan changes.

To update event features, complete the following steps:

  1. Delete event features that are no longer needed from the indoor dataset.
  2. Follow the steps above to load updated events data to the indoor dataset.
    Tip:
    • Use an input spreadsheet that has been filtered to only contain new and updated events.
    • Create the points in a separate feature class.
  3. Use the Append tool to load the new points into the Events feature class.

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