Developing Locations (Sites, Buildings, Floors)

The first few levels of the Archibus space hierarchy are Sites, Buildings, and Floors. Space is typically organized by sites, which house buildings, which in turn house floors, which in turn can house groups or rooms. This topic discusses how to develop the first few levels of the space hierarchy.

With the tasks for developing location data, you can enter new data or edit existing data. When editing existing data, you can use the filter console, located at the top of the view, to limit the display of the locations to only those containing the value you enter in the filter console. For information on the filter console, see Using Filter Consoles

The Define Locations view uses a drill-down selection list to present the levels of location data. For information on working with this, see Using Drill-Down Selection Lists.

Note: This topic provides general information on developing the space hierarchy using the Define Locations (ab-sp-def-loc-rm.axvw) view. Help topics for several applications that require this background data may link to this topic. The specific fields to complete and tasks may vary for each application.

Note: For information on the fields in the ERP panel of the Define Locations view, see Enterprise Resource Planning.

Step 1: Develop Sites (Optional)

Sites group together multiple buildings located in a contiguous area, such as a Market Street site that contains three office buildings. If your company wants to report on and organize space inventory according to a buildings located in the same area, you will want to develop sites. If you do not have multiple buildings located in the same area, you likely will not need the site level of the space hierarchy.

Suppose a site is divided between two cities; for example, the city line crosses through the site so that the site contains two buildings in one city (Bedford), and a third building in another city (Billerica). There are two ways to address this situation; you can choose the one that works best for your reporting needs.

Note: Some views might require you to develop sites in order for data to be rolled up or displayed correctly. For example, when using some map views, such as the Waste Management Map by Site Locations, you select from a drill-down list of locations that require sites in order to view the rollup of waste amounts by status for each site. Also, in the Real Estate Portfolio Management domain, to have portfolio items appear in all key performance indicator charts grouped by geographic location, you should develop the entire geographic hierarchy. That is, you should enter the Country, Region, State, City, and Site Codes. See Developing Geographic Data.

To define your sites:

  1. In the Navigator, choose the Define Locations task (ab-sp-def-loc.axvw). This task is available from several locations on the Navigator.
  2. If necessary, review the existing sites by using the restriction console and tree hierarchy to view the list of sites.
  3. Click the Add New button and in the resulting pop-up dialog, choose Site.

  4. In the right pane, complete the following site information:
  1. Click Save in the upper right corner to save your data.
  2. (Optional): You may want to develop a site plan (also known as a campus plan) that depicts your land and the location of the buildings on it. This is particularly useful for working with applications in which you can drill down by a site plan, such as the Space Book mobile app. For information, see Draw Buildings on a Site Plan.

Step 2: Develop Buildings

  1. In the Navigator, choose the Define Locations task (ab-sp-def-loc.axvw).
  2. If necessary, review the existing buildings using the restriction console and tree hierarchy .
  3. In the tree view in the left pane, select the site in which this building is located. If you are not tracking sites, choose "No Site."
  4. Click the Add New button and in the resulting pop-up dialog, choose Building.


  5. In the right pane, complete the following fields:

    Fields for Extensions for BUILDERTM SMS
    If you have a license for the Extensions for BUILDERTM SMS, the Building form includes the following fields, since BUILDERTM SMS tracks this data:

    Note that the Extensions for BUILDERTM SMS connectors import the values for the tables that validate on the Construction Type Validated and Building Use Validated fields.

  1. Geocode. To calculate the coordinates for this building from the street address, ensure that the Address 1, City, and State fields are completed, save the record, and click Geocode. If there are already values for the building's Latitude (bl.lat) and longitude (bl.lon), the Geocode button is disabled. If needed, to change the location, you can use the Locate on Map action.
  2. Locate on Map. Geocoding processes are often approximate. They compute coordinates by interpolating street addresses along lengths of road which might not be the location you want to specify. Additionally, some addresses return no valid results at all, not even acceptable approximations. For these reasons, as an alternative to geocoding, you might want to override and refine the geocoded results by clicking on the map to locate the object.

    To define a location directly on the map:

    1. Click Locate on Map.

      The Locate Asset pop-up window appears. The application plots the existing location (specified by latitude and longitude), if available, or else presents the map so that you can zoom and pan to the location of the site or building shown in the form.

    2. On the Locate Asset Map, click the point on the map where you want to define the location.

      The application plots a different color marker (for example, yellow versus the default red circle) where you click.

    3. If needed, zoom in to further inspect the location.
    4. If you are not satisfied with the new location, click again. The first yellow marker is erased, and the application plots a new marker where you most recently clicked.
    5. Once satisfied with the marker placement, click Save Location to confirm the placement, The application updates the Latitude and Longitude values in the edit form above with the new coordinates.
    6. Click Save, The new location data is saved to the appropriate table,
  3. (Optional): You may want to represent your buildings with asset symbols on a site plan (also known as a campus plan). This is particularly useful for working with applications in which you can drill down by a site plan, such as the Space Book mobile app. For information, see Draw Buildings on a Site Plan.

Step 3: Develop Floors 

Floors are identified by the values of the Building Code field plus the Floor Code field, such as JFK-01 for floor 01 in building JFK.

To enter your floor information in the database:

To develop a floor plan:

Often, sites wish to have a floor plan so that they can graphically see the location of accidents, maintenance issues, risk issues, and so forth. In this case, users purchase the Space Inventory & Performance application and use CAD to depict develop floor plan drawings. The floor plan can then be used with other Archibus applications.

If you want to depict your floor in a CAD drawing, see Draw Gross Areas (Space Inventory & Performance). Once you develop the floor outline, you can add vertical penetration, service areas, and rooms.

Step 4: Develop Rooms

For information, see Developing Locations (Rooms).

If you have developed a floor plan in CAD, you can add room to the plan.

You may want to print QR Code labels for your rooms, using the Print QR Code Labels button at the top of the Select Sites, Buildings, Sites, and Floors pane. For information, see:

Step 5: Publish the CAD Plans

When satisfied with your floor plans, publish them as enterprise graphics so that you can view them in Web Central views.

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