Building a Smarter Campus: Brown University’s Journey to a Campus-Wide GIS
From the start, Paratum Solutions provided more than just technical expertise. They brought strategic direction, hands-on data creation, and custom mobile applications that made GIS accessible to every level of the organization. Their approach prioritized quick wins, ensuring early successes that built trust and momentum. Brown’s Facilities Management leadership praises Paratum’s responsiveness, communication, and ability to deliver results faster than expected, often exceeding project expectations.
A Long Road to GIS Success
Brown’s GIS journey began years earlier, with several stalled or incomplete attempts to implement a comprehensive mapping solution. The earliest effort was a homegrown campus map developed by a graduate student based on the Google Maps platform. The custom campus map provided a simple, functional way to visualize campus buildings and spaces, but it became increasingly difficult to update. Updating campus data required hours of work, and when the student graduated and the Google Maps API became outdated, the system became unsustainable.
Over the following years, Brown worked with two outside vendors in pursuit of a true enterprise GIS, but due to extenuating circumstances, neither was able to deliver the complete vision the university needed. That changed in 2024, when Brown partnered with Paratum Solutions, a GIS consulting firm led by Chris Akin, GISP. Bringing a “prepared, not reactive” mindset, Paratum quickly assessed the situation and delivered early, high-impact wins to build momentum for a full-scale GIS implementation.
Quick Wins and Explosive Growth
One of the first objectives was to build a new, centralized campus basemap hosted at maps.brown.edu. This new interactive mapping platform, based on Esri’s ArcGIS Experience Builder, replaced outdated static files and became the single authoritative source for spatial data at Brown.
The new basemap isn’t static. It’s a living resource, continually enriched with new layers and data. Recent updates to the “Emergency Services” tab now include AEDs, emergency phones, and Narcan locations, giving first responders and campus safety personnel better tools for rapid decision-making.
While the initial GIS project focus was on deploying a new campus base map, cleaning up building layers, and integrating existing CAD and floor plan data, the scope quickly expanded. In its first year, the GIS initiative tackled projects such as:
- Security camera and blue light inventories
- Stormwater utilities and catch basins
- Accessibility data
- Bicycle rack and donor plaque inventories
- Commencement and Campus Dance event planning
- Real-time construction zone tracking
- 3D campus visualizations
- Integration with facilities management software (Planon)
- Bench inventory and condition assessments
The bench inventory and condition assessment project became a surprise hit. Using Paratum’s custom mobile GIS app, Brown’s landscape crew conducted a full inventory of benches across campus, recording condition data in the field, allowing them to adhere to a grant’s 90-day timeframe and prioritize needs and funding accordingly. At a Facilities Operations Leadership Team meeting, the landscape director praised the tool’s simplicity, announced the ease of use of the GIS system, and advocated for its use across all Brown departments. This kind of real-world success reinforced GIS’s value to staff who might not otherwise have engaged with the technology.
Integrating the “What” with the “Where”
Planon has been in place at Brown since 2020 and now manages 30,000 campus assets and 30,000 spaces, with over 38,000 service requests annually. But until the GIS initiative, it was difficult to tie that data to a physical location in a meaningful, visual way.
Paratum bridged this gap by using shared building IDs and scripted automation to connect floor plans, QR codes, assets, and photos directly to the GIS environment. In time, the goal is full bi-directional syncing between Planon and GIS, removing manual updates altogether.
Customized Applications for Every User
Security and access control were paramount. The new GIS platform introduced multi-tiered access levels:
- Public: General campus map and resources
- Internal (SSO-based): Expanded access for Brown staff
- Restricted: Targeted apps for public safety, facilities, sustainability, and other departments
Each map and application is customized, often down to individual users or roles. For example, security dispatchers see different layers than custodial crews, and sensitive camera feeds are restricted to only a few users.
Paratum’s ability to tailor apps to specific roles has been a game-changer for adoption, with staff across facilities, events, sustainability, and safety seeing immediate benefits.
Events, Wayfinding, and Campus Planning
Looking ahead, Brown is planning to integrate the GIS basemap into the BrownU mobile app and enable dynamic campus routing for students, visitors, and staff.
Indoors and 3D Mapping on the Horizon
In March 2025, Brown’s 2D campus map went live, with a 3D version following shortly after. The 3D buildings, derived from Rhode Island’s LiDAR data, have been “wowing” faculty, staff, and students alike, sparking excitement about what GIS can do for the campus.
The Power of a Centralized Campus Basemap
A centralized campus basemap brings order, efficiency, and strategic value to a university. Rather than scattering maps, diagrams, and data across departments in different formats, the basemap provides a single source of truth that is always current, always accessible, and always expandable.
For Brown, this means faster decision-making, reduced duplication of effort, and the ability to see the relationships between assets, events, and infrastructure in real time. It fosters collaboration between facilities, public safety, sustainability, events, and academic departments. It breaks down silos and replaces “who has the latest version?” with “check the map.” The centralized basemap also empowers the data owners to be able to maintain and update their own data.
Building a Strategic, Long-Term GIS Vision
With increasing internal support, Brown is planning to form a formal GIS Strategic Committee to oversee governance, prioritize projects, and evaluate ROI. Each new success story, whether mapping snow zones, visualizing construction impacts, or supporting ADA compliance, adds value and strengthens the case for continued investment.
And while the journey is still young, the partnership between Brown University and Paratum Solutions offers a compelling blueprint for other universities: start small, build momentum with quick wins, integrate with existing systems, and scale with purpose.
As Chris Akin often says, “Don’t let perfect get in the way of better.” At Brown, better came fast, and perfect now feels within reach.
About the Author and Paratum Solutions
Chris Akin, GISP, is the President of Paratum Solutions, an Esri Business Partner. He has been in the GIS industry for over 25 years, focusing on implementing and managing GIS environments, projects, and solutions for clients across the US.
Paratum Solutions specializes in GIS consultation and implementation. We support facility management through managed GIS services and custom GIS implementations for the higher education, K-12, healthcare, utility, facility, and municipal sectors.
Chris and Paratum Solutions believe in being prepared and driving organizations to be proactive, rather than reactive.
“Paratum” is a derivation of the Latin word for “prepared.”
Paratum truly believes in our vision of “Prepared, Informed, Equipped”, and we support select clients with the same ethos.
The key is making data centralized, shareable, and accessible.
For more information about Paratum Solutions and to discuss how our GIS support services and custom solutions will help you achieve your campus mapping goals, contact Chris Akin at cakin@paratumsolutions.com or visit us at www.paratumsolutions.com.
