SDSS Floor Maps

Students in the CGT3O/ CGO4M Geomatics class were tasked with creating a new floor map for our school. The request came from school administration as our school was preparing for some major changes in the following school year. As the school prepared to transition to a 7-12 model, the task was simple: To create a functional map that was easy to read. Thinking about the map audience, it had to serve many purposes (visitors to the building looking for rooms, tours for parents and new students, supply teachers getting acquainted with the building, etc.).

Original Map

SDSS - 2nd Floor

Work in progress....

Workflow

Students were given paper copies of the existing maps of the school and we identified areas for improvement
Students walked the halls and made notes on their maps. We toured the school to discuss changes to occur and the uses for classrooms and spaces (e.g. shared spaces, elementary classrooms, secondary, etc.)
Students began building maps in ArcMap 10.2. After some trial and error with georeferencing, students had a digital image of architectural drawings from which to start. In order to truly georeference this map, we had to "reorient north" to approximately 210 degrees. This caused many headaches which we navigated through (symbols all needed to change to this orientation as well).
Students discussed how they would group layers, and began creating shapefiles in ArcCatalog

Architectural drawings

Students traced each feature using the overlay of the architect's drawings. Consultations were made when features were unclear or mislabeled.
Students revisited the original purpose of the map (audience, function, simplicity) and were each responsible for producing a map layout of one floor of the school. A lot of time was spent modifying the attribute tables of each layer to add data (e.g. subject, teacher, room number, etc.)
Shapefiles were compiled into a final map which was presented to administration and school staff to be used.

Finished Products