Issue link: https://resources.esri.ca/i/1361311
2 The next generation office is a workplace that energizes employee performance. Here, workers easily talk about new ideas and plan ways to implement them. In this smart environment, everything is designed to help workers do their best. The facility's operating system seems to intuitively respond to the needs of its inhabitants. Various systems work together to ensure faster service delivery and site safety and security. The building recognizes where people are using its conference rooms, monitors CO 2 levels, and adjusts airflow. In the afternoon, when sunlight brightly shines through windows, shades drop to lower the glare. Buildings wake up before employees come to work and switch to sleep mode in the evenings, dimming the lights and lowering indoor temperatures. Sensors in the ceiling and lining the halls stream live information to the central operating system. The system intelligently manages building conditions and automatically activates responses that meet workers' needs. Because everything and every action happening inside the building is tied to location, sensors and smart devices stream operational data to a geospatial platform. The connected system provides context to the data via a smart workplace map. A workplace map is not restricted to two-dimensional space. Its 3D scenes contain representations of all features on all floors. It shows objects, points of interest, and change over time. The map is a window into the database. Click a feature on the map and access information for an asset such as a printer's make, model, and service record. But this smart map has capabilities beyond record management. It performs location analytics to show how traffic flows through buildings, where people gather to share ideas, or why utility costs are so high. It places buffer zones around construction areas that route employees safely past them. Managers set geofences around high-security areas to ensure that only approved personnel enter those places. The next generation's maps are intelligent. They support logistic planning for moving entire departments to other buildings or find a work area for a new employee that is close to a mentor. Boosting Workplace Productivity " Whatever good things we build end up building us." —Jim Rohn Renowned Architect Enabling the Next Generation Office Boosting workplace productivity