Helping Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) Build a Sustainable Indoor GIS Program

The Skinny:

Goal – Give BCPS an Indoor GIS system serving facilities, security, and emergency response.
Partnership – Esri provided the ArcGIS Indoors product, geoConvergence provided CAD conversion, field validation, system integration, and implementation.
The Challenge – 176 buildings with CAD files from different vendors/years needed a solution to handle scale and variability
Operations-First Approach – Started with administrative facilities (maintenance depots, warehouses) to establish CAD-to-GIS workflows before scaling to school buildings.
Field Validation – Physical walkthroughs across 70+ facilities using ArcGIS Field Maps verified CAD data against current conditions, capturing geometry corrections and safety asset updates in real time.
Sustainable Program – Multi-year partnership; 2 years in, 5M sq ft digitized across 40+ buildings; ongoing maintenance as buildings and needs evolve.

Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) needed Indoor GIS across 176 buildings. The challenge converting CAD files and building geodatabases wasn’t just technical. It was operational: creating a system that facilities managers, security personnel, and first responders could rely on.

The project is structured as a five-year partnership, which shaped how we prioritize buildings, manage data, and think about long-term maintenance. Two years in, we’ve digitized 5 million square feet and deployed applications across 40+ buildings—including high schools, middle schools, and administrative facilities. Here’s how geoConvergence approached the project and what we’ve learned so far.

The Challenge & Approach

BCPS had CAD files for most buildings, but they were produced by different vendors across different years and standards. Our job was to standardize these drawings to import them into the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model so indoor data from all facilities could live in a single, consistent system.

We processed each CAD file by separating content into standardized layers—rooms, walls, doors, floors, and assets. We then built a semi-automated workflow using ArcGIS Indoors for ArcGIS Pro and ArcPy to convert CAD layers into GIS feature layers with ArcGIS Indoors Information Model-compliant attribution. Because vendor CAD standards varied widely, we automated repeatable steps and performed targeted manual quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) and made corrections where needed.

Field Validation & Mobile Editing

CAD-based conversions don’t capture everything. Legacy drawings often miss undocumented renovations, space reconfigurations, and asset changes. To address this, we conducted physical walkthroughs across 70+ facilities to validate the converted indoor data against current conditions.

To support this field verification, we integrated ArcGIS Field Maps with ArcGIS Indoors to deploy floor-aware indoor maps in mobile devices. Field staff navigated each level and visually compared mapped features to real-world conditions, while also validating architectural elements (walls, doors, rooms, stairs) and safety assets (AEDs, fire extinguishers, and other emergency equipment). Geometry corrections, asset status verification, and attribute edits were captured in real time and synchronized back to hosted feature layers in ArcGIS Online—streamlining field operations, reducing post-processing, and ensuring verified updates were immediately reflected across the enterprise GIS system.

Starting with Operations

We didn’t start where you might expect. Before mapping a single school, we delivered 500,000 square feet of indoor data across BCPS operational facilities – maintenance depots, warehouses, and transportation hubs.

That decision was deliberate. These facilities gave us a controlled, lower-impact environment to prove the end-to-end CAD-to-GIS workflow standardizing vendor drawings, applying ArcGIS Indoors Information Model attribution, and hardening QA/QC without disrupting student-facing spaces. At the same time, it delivered immediate value to facilities teams through operational workflows like asset management, space utilization, and occupancy planning. By the time we moved to schools, we weren’t piloting anymore—we were scaling a process BCPS had already used, validated, and trusted.

Building for Multiple Stakeholders

A district-wide Indoor GIS only works if the same authoritative indoor dataset can answer very different questions for very different stakeholders. We built the BCPS Indoors environment to do exactly that:

Facilities teams use the system for space utilization and portfolio decisions (including lease avoidance), occupancy planning by linking HR headcount to buildings/spaces, and asset visibility to support day-to-day planning.
Safety and operations use floor-aware indoor maps for evacuation planning and for locating and validating critical safety equipment (e.g., AEDs, fire extinguishers, emergency equipment).
First responders need rapid access to floor plans by levels, exits, and key asset locations through their emergency management system.

We published CAD-derived indoor GIS data to ArcGIS Online as web maps and services, then delivered the applications those teams needed: indoor map viewers, space planning tools, wayfinding/routing networks, and reporting dashboards.

Lessons Learned

The first years of deployment validated several key decisions:

Beginning with administrative facilities established a strong foundation. Testing the workflow for facilities buildings before scaling to schools reduced risk while demonstrating value to facilities teams early.
Field validation ensured data accuracy. CAD files rarely reflect current conditions. Physical walkthroughs identified undocumented renovations, relocated assets, and space reconfigurations. Field Maps enabled real-time validation and synchronization, maintaining efficiency at scale.
Designing for multiple stakeholders upfront avoided retrofitting later. Facilities needed data integration for occupancy tracking. Emergency responders needed access through their public safety platform. Building these connections from the start meant one dataset serving multiple workflows from the outset.
Structuring it as a long-term program supports sustainability. Buildings evolve, and operational needs shift. The multi-year framework accommodates phased deployment and ongoing maintenance, recognizing that Indoor GIS maintains true value when data remains current.

For K-12 districts that might be evaluating Indoor GIS at scale, BCPS demonstrates how to build a system that delivers value, scales across an entire district, and remains sustainable over time.

The Work Continues

This isn’t a one-time deployment. geoConvergence maintains the system and the data, which includes adding new facilities, modifying existing ones, and removing obsolete facilities from the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model. Buildings change, and so do operational needs—the system evolves alongside them.

We’re two years into a multi-year timeline, with three more years of phased deployment and continuous maintenance ahead. Phase 2 is ongoing, covering the remaining middle schools and dozens of elementary and special schools. This structure reflects a simple truth: Indoor GIS isn’t a project with an endpoint—it’s a core operational capability that evolves alongside your buildings and your needs.

That work also put geoConvergence at the table with the Maryland Center for School Safety, contributing to Interagency Commission on School Construction statewide standards for indoor GIS in educational environments—defining what best practice looks like at scale.

About geoConvergence

Founded in 2004, geoConvergence is a GIS consulting firm specializing in indoor mapping and digital twin solutions for commercial, federal, education and healthcare clients. As an Esri Gold Business Partner with Indoor GIS and Federal Small Business Ready designations and one of two receipients of the 2026 Esri Federal Small Business Specialty Partner of the Year, we combine mobile LiDAR technology with GIS expertise to deliver precise spatial data for facility management, wayfinding, and capital planning. geoConvergence serves organizations nationwide requiring secure, accurate indoor mapping solutions.