Facility managers are using an interior space mapping concept to make the most of GIS inside buildings and the framework of this enterprise concept is called Facility Information Infrastructure, or FII. An FII is a central repository of all the spatial data, inside and out, that exists about your building, campus or portfolio. An FII offers a holistic view of your building or campus' spatial data - from lease management to energy consumption - helping decision makers answer complex questions like: "What is the most effective use of the available space in our facilities?", "How do we get employees or residents out of the building safely in the event of an emergency?", and "What is the most efficient workflow of my production facility?"
An FII uses the basic concepts of visualizing and analyzing mapped locations in the landscape and applies them to the inside of buildings. Since issues that involve the landscape outside the building - public safety, security and environmental issues - also pertain to inside the building, an FII repository is an invaluable resource to many different interests.
As an enterprise investment, FII supports many different business processes. In an FII, the data developed and maintained for one purpose, can be re-used for another. For example, public safety does not need to invest in the development or maintenance of basic floor plans, but use floor plans developed for other purposes and add the elements that are important to them as an additional layer. Therefore, many different business processes can be supported by a combined FII, supporting the entire facility life cycle.
An FII will speak to those asking ‘where’ questions about their facility assets, while interoperating with and extending other enterprise systems, from real property and work order management to visualization of environmental sampling. So, an FII helps decision makers in every department, agency or business unit understand the facility inside and out, giving them the power to leverage existing investments and share information from other departments or agencies for their own purposes - or to make strategic, high level decisions for the good of the whole.
CASE STUDY:
FII is in use at Kuwait University, where they are using GIS technology to support the planning, design, development and operations of a new University City. Their goals for incorporating an FII into their University plans include: establishing a powerful GIS system for the University City; creating a comprehensive geodatabase for the as-built data; managing the campus assets effectively; creating advanced applications based on a comprehensive geodatabase; establishing the GIS infrastructure for future geospatial needs. For this 5-year, multibillion dollar project using Esri’s GIS software and PenBay Solutions’ expertise in GIS for the interior, Kuwait University has recognized that incorporating a GIS is an important asset to every stage of the facility life cycle.
