ArcGIS Indoors

How to Evaluate Autodesk® Revit® Floorplans for ArcGIS Indoors

Introduction

Before ArcGIS Pro 2.7, users were unable to leverage a geoprocessing tool to convert Revit floorplan data to ArcGIS Indoors layers. With the release of ArcGIS Pro 2.7, Esri incorporated a licensed ArcGIS Indoors geoprocessing tool called ‘Import BIM to Indoor Dataset’ to facilitate indoor GIS delivery for users to import their Revit data into the ArcGIS Indoors geodatabase.

Purpose

To ensure a successful conversion of Revit floorplans to ArcGIS Indoors, the Revit building files need to be evaluated.

Throughout this article, one will learn how to evaluate Revit building files as a prerequisite to converting to ArcGIS Indoors floorplans.

Steps for Evaluating Revit Floorplans in ArcGIS Pro:

Step 1

In this first step, open the folder that is storing the Revit building files. Ensure each building is stored in a single Revit file containing the necessary floorplans for data evaluation.

The data owner cannot have floorplans for a building stored in separate Revit files, nor can multiple buildings be stored in a single Revit file.

If there is uncertainty about whether floorplans are stored inside the Revit building files, it will be verified in the next step.

Floorplans Stored in Building .rvt File
Each Revit file stores the floorplans for that building.

Step 2

In ArcGIS Pro, the user will connect the folder storing the Revit files.

Once the folder is connected, verify that the Revit files store the ‘Floorplan’ dataset.

Add the Revit file sub-layers ‘Floorplan_Polygon’, ‘Floorplan_Polyline’, and ‘Footprint’ to the maps contents.

BIM file dataset used for conversion to ArcGIS Indoors
Check the connected folder for the 'Floorplan' BIM file dataset. Add the following sub-layers to the map contents.

Step 3

Once the Revit file data layers are added to the maps contents, open the attribute table for the ‘Floorplan_Polygon’ layer.

Analyze the ‘Category’ field to verify the Revit data contains ‘Floors’ and ‘Rooms’.

If the field only shows ‘Rooms’, the dataset lacks floors needed to convert into the ArcGIS Indoors ‘Levels’ layer. If the field only shows ‘Floors’, the dataset is unable to identify rooms to convert into the ArcGIS Indoors ‘Units’ layer. As mentioned above, make sure the field contains both ‘Floors’ and ‘Rooms’.

Additionally, in the same attribute table, verify that the ‘RoomName’ and ‘RoomNumber’ fields contain data.

These fields are important in the data conversion process, as they will fill in the ‘Use Type’ and ‘Unit ID’ fields in the ArcGIS Indoors layers.

Category Field Validation
Verify that the Category's Field for both 'Rooms' and 'Floors' are attributed.
Verify RoomNames and RoomNumbers field have data
Verify that the 'RoomNames' and 'RoomNumbers' Field contain attributed data.

Steps for Evaluating Revit Floorplans in Revit 

Go ahead and open Revit.

Add the Revit files that will require evaluation.

To evaluate Revit drawings, floors need to be associated to the Revit file to convert to the ArcGIS Indoors layers. To check on this information, follow these steps. 

Step 1

Click on the ‘View’ tab in the ribbon.

Then click the ‘Schedules’ button.

Afterwards, select ‘Schedule/Quantities’.

Selecting 'Schedule/Quantities'
Follow the numbers to select ‘Schedule/Quantities’

Step 2

For the ‘New Schedule’ window, scroll down in the ‘Category’ section and select ‘Floors’.

Then, click ‘OK’.

Selecting Floors
Select 'Floors' for category, and then click 'OK'

Step 3

Select all the following ‘Available Fields’

Using the green arrow, bring the selected ‘Available Fields’ over to the ‘Scheduled Fields’.

Then click ‘OK’.

Scheduled Fields
Select all 'Available Fields' and add them to 'Scheduled Fields'

Step 4

Based on the previous step, a new tab was added to the top of the Revit workspace called ‘Floor Schedule’

Open the ‘Floor Schedule’ table and see if there is data.

If there is no data in the fields, the ‘Import BIM to Indoor Dataset’ tool will not properly run. If there is data, verify that the Revit floorplans contain ‘Levels’ associated to the Revit file for that building and that it is classified in the table. Look at the image below, as it exemplifies what the Revit dataset should look like.

Verify there are Levels associated to your Revit floorplans.

Conclusion

To summarize, this article walks through the process of data evaluation as a prerequisite to converting Revit building files to the ArcGIS Indoors layers.

To get started on loading Revit floorplan data into the ArcGIS Indoors geodatabase, explore the following resources:

  1. These 5 Easy Steps Will Convert Revit to Indoor Maps
  2. Load Floorplans to Indoors from BIM

If you are interested in getting started with ArcGIS Indoors, visit our webpage now to get in touch with an Indoors expert!

About the author

Andy is a Solution Engineer for the Smart Cities team primarily focused on ArcGIS Indoors technology. Before coming to Esri, he was a student GIS Analyst at Temple University serving the Space Management Department. In his free time, he likes to hike and camp at national parks across the United States. He hopes to visit all 50 states in the next 10 years.

Connect:
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Next Article

What's new in ArcGIS Hub first quarter

Read this article