Building and Floorplan Management

Creating Buildings #

In order to create a building, please click on New building and then click on the map to mark its position. You can also enter your address in the address search box and click on the exact location where you want to place the venue. Enter a name for your building and press Create in order to do it. 

Floorplans #

Floorplan recommendations #

Image format #

Floorplans should be uploaded in the following image formats: PNG, JPEG, JPG.

Dimensions #

The maximum resolution supported is 4096×4096 px. This is because images larger than this can have a negative impact in mobile applications (e.g. take up too much memory or cause long delays while loading).

All the floorplans of a building must have exactly the same dimensions.

It is recommendable to upload an image where the building floorplan fits inside the image layout. The floor plan might be the same size or smaller than the layout but never surpass the layout. Take into account, that the geofences tool and indoor paths must only be drawn inside the canvas.

Textures #

We recommend keeping the texture of the floorplan as simple as possible to guarantee a good user experience:

1. Floorplans should only show spaces and elements that are relevant to the user.
2. Space distribution should be presented in a simple manner.
3. Soft colours with no gradient or effects are usually preferred.

Uploading floorplans to your building #

To upload floorplans, first select the building where you want to upload them and then click on the “New Floor” button.

The New Floor screen will appear. You may introduce a code name for your floor (e.g. GF for Ground Floor), its order (e.g. 0 for the ground floor, 1 for the 1st level, etc.). You may also set optional parameters such as the altitude of the floor (indicates the level height relative to the ground, only important if you you want to speed up floor changes) and the floor custom fields.

To upload the floor plan, just click on the “Select an image” space and dialog to let you upload a floorplan file will appear. You can search it on your computer and then, press Create. Please take into account the floorplan recommendations.

Once this process is completed, the building floor plan will be shown on the Dashboard in floor list.

At this point, you will have to adjust the building layout to the real building shape (e.g. rotating/scaling the floorplan) as explained in the next section. Finally, you may just click on the “Save” button (floppy disk).

Adjusting floorplans to your building layout #

A very important step after you create your building, is to adjust the layout of your floorplans to the real layout of your building. This means, in essence, placing your floorplans’ coordinates exactly in your building’s coordinates. With this information, we will be able to know important parameters of your building, such as its location, its real size and its orientation. Without these parameters, it is not possible to provide an accurate location estimation.

Main parameters configuration of the layout #

In the following image, you can see the main configuration parameters of the canvas of your building:

• Dimensions (in meters): length and width of the canvas
• Four main corners: top-left, top-right, bottom-right and bottom-left of the canvas
• Rotation angle (in radians): the angle which you rotate your canvas respect to the cardinal axes.
• Building location: the center point of the canvas.

Manual layout matching adjustment #

This is the recommended way since it is easy and yields good results in general. Using this method, you will place one of your floorplans by trying to match the building layout using Google Maps as a baseline. We recommend using the Satellite View for a better building layout visualization.

First, select any of your building levels to adjust its layout. Any changes applied to one level floorplan will be replicated across all the rest of the levels.

Then, you may use the following controls to adjust your building’s layout:

• OPACITY: You can increase or decrease it to find the best fit for the building (1).
• SCALE: Enlarge or decrease the floorplan size by using the buttons located in the corners of the map (2).
• MOVE THE FLOORPLAN: Use the button located in the center of the map to move it (3). 
• ROTATE THE MAP:  Rotate the floorplan using the curved arrow button (4).            

Once the floorplans are adjusted, press the button SAVE, to save the changes. To discard changes press the button X

Corner-based adjustment (advanced users only) #

Another way to adjust your building’s layout is to provide the coordinates of its corners. This method is only recommended to advanced users because the corner coordinates have to be very exact and build a perfect rectangle among them.

You may perform this adjustment by using the control shown in the following image. Note that the corner numbers are properly numbered so you can find them easily.

Center, width and rotation based adjustment (advanced users only) #

The final way to adjust your building’s layout is to provide:

1. the coordinates of its center
2. its rotation
3. its size (width and height)

Updating Floorplans #

In order to update the floor of your building through the Dashboard, you need:

1. Select the building you want to update the floor on.
2. Click on the pencil icon next to the floor you wish to update.

Once clicked, a form similar to the one used to create a floor will appear, only with the values already set up. In here, you will be able to modify any of the fields, including uploading a new map of the floor or even adding Custom Fields. When all changes are made, you’ll need to click the Update button so the changes are stored in the system. 

When updating info on a building, you do not lose any information: you keep the calibrations (should there be any), you keep the ID of floors and building, etc.

Configuring level height #

A floor is an entity representing a certain level of a building. Each floor resource contains, among other information, the physical level of the floor and its floorplan image.  All the floorplans of a building occupy the same 2D area in the map, and they should have the same dimensions. As it is shown in the previous picture, the area occupied by a certain floor is defined by the coordinates of each corner of the floorplan, plus the rotation of the floorplan when placed in the map.

Each floor can have a level height, which is the height of the floor with respect to the ground level. For instance, a typical building could have the following configuration:

1. Level -2 : level_height = 0m
2. Level -1 : level_height = 5 m
3. Level 0 : level_height = 10 m
4. Level 1 : level_height = 15 m
5. Level 2 : level_height = 20 m
6. Level 3 : level_height = 25 m
7. Level 4 : level_height = 30 m
8. Level 5 : level_height = 35 m
9. Level 6 : level_height = 40 m

Important aspects to consider when updating a floorplan #

• You will have to maintain the same dimensions if you choose to upload a new floorplan.
• You will have to make sure that the alignment of the floorplan should be the same as the alignment of the rest of the floors in the building.
• If you wish to update a floor on a building with multiple floors, please remember to keep the same dimensions, or else the system won’t let you update.
• If you wish to update a floor on a single-floor building and wish to change the dimensions of the floorplan, please note that it takes a while for the system to update and store the information, which could lead to potential incongruences in the dimensions of the floor. If you are faced with this, you can either:
  • contact our support team for help in checking/changing these at support@situm.com
  • if the building only had test calibrations and no vital information in it, you could also erase the building and create it again with new dimensions.

Erasing floorplans #

In order to erase a floor of your building through the Dashboard, you need to first select the building you want to erase the floor from. Then, click on the trash bin icon next to the floor you wish to erase. Once clicked, you will get a pop-up message, warning you of the consequences of erasing the floor. If you still want to delete, click the ‘Delete’ button and your floor will be deleted.  

Please, take into consideration that, if you choose to delete the floor, all calibrations, paths, events and any other types of custom configurations attached to the floor will be permanently deleted. Therefore, erasing or deleting the floor is only recommended in those buildings where calibration has only been done for testing purposes and no definitive configuration/calibration has been performed.

If you have any doubts regarding erasing a floor, please contact our Support Team at support@situm.com to make a more informed decision