How to import a current building

In order to compare the current situation to a newly created situation with SpacePro you can upload and import a current building with the 'Import Current Building' functionality.


In order to do a an import you will need 2 things:

  1. An excel sheet containing FMIS data, or data extraced from a CAD file. This sheet will have to contain at least:
    1. Buildingname/-type - in what building does the asset exist?
    2. Floor information - on what floor is the asset situated?
    3. Spacetype name - what are the names of the different types of spaces within the building, e.g. meeting rooms, workstations, pantries, informal seating,
    4. Group names - to which teams/departments does the asset belong (optional) ?
    5. Surface area - what is the general space usage of the asset?
    6. Map location - what is the geospatial location of the asset (optional)? For example when you have roomnumbers that pinpoint the location on schematic drawings or maps, e.g. Room 1.002A
  2. An existing SpaceProgram that represents the future need of a population.

This article will take you through the steps of performing and import using the SpacePro application and help you navigate through the main screens within this process.


  1. Open the Space program that you want to compare to the current situation
  2. Navigate to the "Buildings" menu item in the Space program
  3. Click the "Import Current Building" to start the import

Basic Settings page

  1. Enter the name for your building and optionally add a description
  2. Select the Client that the Building belongs to
  3. Select the folder that you would like to save the building in
  4. Select in 'Start the Current Building import from*: "A SpaceProgram. Then select your existing Space program to compare with. You can also select a previously imported building to re-use all the import settings (foldings, mappings).
  5. Choose your excel file that holds the data of the Current building you are importing.

If the uploaded file hols multiple worksheets, select the worksheet with correct data. Once chosen you will need to connect the right colums for the mandatory information, as mentioned earlier; Building, Floor, Space Name, Group, Surface Area and Geospatial Location.

When the Building column is correctly selected you can chose which building you want to import.

Once you have connected the right columns with the right data you can hit "Save".


Map Groups page

The first step is mapping the groups found in the import to the groups that exist in the Space program. On the left hand side of the screen you can see the unique groups that are found in the uploaded excel file, together with the amount of room this group is associated with. On the right hand side you can see a dropdown bar for each group, to map it to the correct team. If there is no suitable match, you are able to leave the dropdown on the right side empty. You can map multiple groups from the excel to the same Group in the SpacePro program.


When you have mapped all the groups correctly, you can hit "Next" button at the bottom of the page to confirm.

Fold Space Names page

The next step, on this page, allows you to reduce the total number of spaces to be mapped to space types. For example; in the Excel data there are multiple names for various technical building spaces, but you will treat these all the same. Reducing the number of unique Space names by folding them makes the next step simpler.


On the left hand side you can see the unique space names that are found in the uploaded excel file, together with the surface area range. On the right hand side you can see a dropdown bar for each space name, to which it will be folded. The system will prevent you from folding things into eachother.


When you have mapped/folded all the space names correctly, you can hit the "Next" button at the bottom of the page to confirm.


Map Space Types page

In this final step of importing building information you need to select each space name and define how it should be imported into the current building. Here you have three 'treatment' options:

  1. Do nothing; this option allows you to ignore the space type and not create spaces for the given space names. This is the option to select when you want leave certain space types out of the comparison.
  2. Gross Area; this option allows you to treat the space related to the space name as 'Gross' without mapping it to any of the space types available in the chosen Space program. This is the option to use when for example you want to map space types that are not relevant for comparing usable space.
  3. Space types; this option allows you to directly map it to a specific space type from the space program. It also allows multiple mappings per space type. Based on differents size occurances you are able to map 'each occurrence' or 'each mapped surface'. You will need to work from small to large (in sizing), by creating thresholds.
    1. 'Each occurrence method' will map each occurrence. This method will take each occurrence and compare it against the space type, regardless of the difference in surface area.
    2. 'Each mapped surface method' will map each mapped surface. This method takes each occurrence and divides the surface area of that occurrence by the surface area of the space type it is mapped against. This is useful when you have a large area (e.g. 84m2 of space name "office" and you want to map this to individual workstations of 7m2. The one space of 84m2 will be divided by 7 and this will create 12 instances of Spacetype workstation).

By default all space type panels are folded. Click on every space name to unfold the panel and define the type of mapping. Once you have created your mapping per spacetype, make sure to check whether you are correctly mapping surface area against surface area. If there is a large discrepancy between your import and mapping, you might want to consider a different method; each occurrence vs each mapped surface (step 3b, see above).


Theshold example:

Let's say that all the current meetings rooms have been labeled as "meeting room", however, they do differ in size due to their capacity. Based on size, we can cluster the occurrences and map them to 3 space types in the existing Space program, bu using the threshold principle. For example:

Spaces up to 10m2 can be mapped with the method 'each occurrence' to Meeting Room Small

Click "Add"

Spaces up to 20m2 can be mapped with the method 'each occurence' to Meeting Room Medium

Click "Add"

All sizes larger than 20m2 can be mapped with the method 'each occurence' to Meeting Room Large


In order to support the discerning of the different size spaces the graph will give you a visual overview of the number of occurrences of specific sizes of that space type. Furthermore you can see the smallest size, biggest size and the median.


When you have mapped all the space types correctly, you can hit the "Next" button at the bottom of the page to confirm.


Summary page

This page summarizes what you have imported on the left hand side against the elements in the Space program on the right hand size. In the middle of the page you will see the difference in between what is imported and what is in the Space program.


This page also shows the summary of the import by floor and by mapped space type, further below. When you are satisfied with the import and want to confirm, hit the "Close" button at the bottom of the page.


Now you have finalized the import steps and can analyze your comparison made in three different comparison screens:

  1. The Overview screen
  2. The Detail screen
  3. The Table screen

Overview comparison screen

The overview screen shows you an overall picture of the comparison, based on the parameters that you have used for the import. In default it will show four metric graphs. These and other 'metrics' can be checked and unchecked on the right side, in the "Settings" panel, depending on your need for comparison.

Comparison Settings menu

The settings panel consists of 4 settings:

  1. Space program.

Here you are able to switch between different variations or scenarios of Space programs to compare the current situation. For example; you might have created 3 different programs containing the same set of space types, but with different ratios. Here you can switch between your scenarios, for a more thorough analysis.


  1. Metrics

The metrics that are available in the comparison mode are:

    1. Surface
    2. Capacity
    3. Workplace count
    4. Primary workstations
    5. Number of

  1. The chart values of the graphs van be shown in 3 "Modes"
    1. Absolute mode
    2. Relative mode
    3. Per FTE mode

  1. The groupings or tags that exist in your Space program can also be used to compare. For example you can use your teams/groups or you space type groupings, depending on what exists in your Space Program.

Detail comparison screen

The detail comparison screen shows the comparison on a more detailed level. It will always show all unique space types on the horizontal axe of the graph. The vertical axe shows the metrics chosen, e.g. surface, capacity, workplace count, primary workstations or number of. If you select multiple metrics it will show multiple graphs.

Table comparison screen

The table comparison screen shows the comparison in the most detailed and traceable way, in an actual table. Unfortunately the table does not support subtotals yet, but we hope to be adding this feature in the near future.


On the left hand side it shows the unique space types per rule. The columns will show you the metrics chosen, in the Setting panel, with on the left the square meters of the current building and on the right the square meters of the Space program.

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