02 – How to create floor transition paths

Step by step #

Creating these transitions is important in order to:

• Providing wayfinding and indications when a route involves several floors.
• Speed up floor changes if you are using any of the floor change accelerators.

In order to create a floor transition path, these are the steps you must follow the steps described in the following images.

Types of floor transitions #

Elevators #

You may want to create a floor transition that represents an elevator. Elevators are bidirectional (two-way) and accessible (suitable for persons with reduced mobility).

First, you must create one node on each floor (in the location where the elevator is). Then, you need to link each node to the nodes on the adjacent floors. For instance, the following image shows how we linked the node on Floor 1 both to the nodes on Floor 0 and 2.

Sometimes, you will have more than one elevator in the same place. In this case, you don’t need a node per elevator: one node for all of them (per floor) is enough.

Stairs #

You may also want to create floor transitions representing stairs. Stairs are bidirectional and not accessible.​

There are two types of stairs:

• Stairs that connect one floor to another. In this case, you should create one node where the stair starts (in the lower level), another where the stair ends (in the upper level), and link both with a bidirectional link.
• Stairs that connect several floors. In this case, you should create one node on each floor, linking each node with both the upper and lower level nodes (bidirectional link). Each node would typically be where the stair starts (on each floor).

Escalators #

Escalators are directional and not accessible. There are two categories of escalators:

“Zig-zag” escalators #

“Zig-zag” escalators have a staircase going up and, on the opposite side of the same floor, another staircase going down.

To create paths for this kind of escalator on Situm Dashboard, you will need to follow the next steps:

1. Create one node at the start of the staircase up and another node at the end of the escalator down.​
2. Then, you have to link both nodes with the respective on the other floors:

• Escalator up: create a linking node at the end of the escalator on the next floor
• Escalator down: create a linking node at the start of the escalator on the previous floor

3. Finally, you will have to link floor transition nodes with the appropriate node on each floor.

 

Bidirectional escalators #

Bidirectional escalators are just like stairs that connect one floor to another. In this case, it is enough to create one node where the escalator starts (in the lower level), another where the stair ends (in the upper level), and link both with a bidirectional link.

To create paths for this kind of escalator on Situm Dashboard, you will need to follow the next steps:

1. Create only one node at the start of the staircase up and the end of the escalator down.​ If you place it in the middle of both escalators, it will be enough for correct wayfinding.
2. Finally, you will have to link floor transition nodes with the appropriate node on each floor.