Wake County Public School System Implements ArcGIS Indoors District-Wide - A Success Story
Background: Who is WCPSS?
Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is the 14th largest school district in the United States, serving a rapidly growing student population of 160,000 across 220+ sites and 27+ million square feet of educational and administrative facilities. The district employs over 10,000 staff and encompasses numerous departments, each operating with its own data and operational processes, often resulting in siloed information. This created challenges for strategic planning, facility management, safety operations, and cross-departmental collaboration. With a growing student body and expanding facilities, WCPSS recognized the need for a centralized system to manage campus data efficiently, improve operational oversight, and support informed decision-making across all levels of the district. In step Map I.T., and Langan, to solve organizational challenges by implementing Esri’s ArcGIS Indoors solution.
From Pilot to Full Implementation
WCPSS began with a pilot project to implement ArcGIS Indoors in collaboration with Map I.T., focusing on evaluating the ArcGIS platform’s ability to enhance safety and security/911 emergency response, facility management, and space planning. The pilot was completed for an elementary, middle, high school, and admin building. The goal was to enable multiple departments to test workflows, explore how indoor mapping could act as a centralized data repository, and improve operational efficiency.
Following the pilot’s success, WCPSS partnered with Map I.T. and Langan in 2025 to implement ArcGIS Indoors district-wide. Championed by the Facilities Construction and Design team, with support from Geospatial Analytics and other departments, the full deployment aimed to establish a centralized repository for all campus information. This new GIS deployment is now building the foundation for campus operations and management for years to come.
ArcGIS Indoors – Bringing People Together
Before any technical work began, the project immediately fostered collaboration and engagement among WCPSS staff. A kickoff meeting brought together over 25 participants from various departments, including facilities, safety and security, operations, tech services, long range planning, and administration. For many, it was the first time they were meeting colleagues from other departments in person. One WCPSS participant noted to another, “It’s great to meet you in person; we really need to collaborate on these projects.”
Conversations in the room highlighted the existing data silos and lack of spatial information related to many datasets, with staff recognizing the opportunity for better coordination and communication. This kickoff reinforced a core value of GIS: it is not just a tool for data and map visualization, but also brings people together, fostering collaboration, and supporting better decision-making. Just from that first meeting, everyone realized the value of implementing ArcGIS Indoors.
District-Wide Implementation of ArcGIS Indoors
The full district-wide implementation of ArcGIS Indoors was a comprehensive and technically sophisticated effort. Thousands CAD floor plans were imported into the ArcGIS Indoors Information Model. While Esri provides out-of-the-box geoprocessing tools for conversion, Map I.T. developed custom in-house tools in AutoCAD and ArcGIS Pro to streamline and automate many aspects of the process. This included georeferencing the CAD floor plans, preparing and cleaning data for conversion, fully populating the attribute tables, and building routing networks across all 220 campuses (totaling over 400 miles of walkable routes!). Map I.T.’s custom tools and workflow allowed them to complete the full Indoors implementation in less than a year!
In addition to classrooms and administrative offices, the CAD plans included utility layouts, mechanical and electrical infrastructure, and exterior site information, resulting in highly detailed, actionable campus maps. These indoor maps were designed not only for viewing data in web and mobile applications but they were also used for operational functionality, including room booking, navigation, space management, safety planning, facility/asset management, and floor plan management. By integrating this level of detail, WCPSS created a single source of truth for facilities and operational data across the district. “Before this project, everyone had pieces of the truth. Now we have an authoritative system of record for our schools. This allows staff to trust the information they’re using to plan, respond, and operate,” said Rob Siwiec, Senior Director of Geospatial Analytics for WCPSS.
Key Application Deliverables
Several applications were delivered as part of the ArcGIS Indoors deployment, each serving a distinct operational purpose:
ArcGIS Indoors Web and Mobile Viewer: This web and mobile application allow staff to view detailed site and floor plan information. Users can search for rooms, reserve spaces through hoteling and hot desking, and navigate with indoor routing and wayfinding across all buildings and campuses.
Space Utilization Survey: Integrated with ArcGIS Survey123, this survey allows principals and administrative staff to verify floor plan accuracy at the start of each academic year. Staff walk each room to confirm room numbers and ensure that recorded room use-types match actual usage. Survey data feeds into ArcGIS Dashboards, enabling the Facilities team to make timely updates to the geodatabase.
Safety and Security Mapping: Accurate floor plans are critical for compliance with state law and emergency response requirements. WCPSS deployed incident reporting surveys and dashboards to allow safety and security teams to document, track, analyze, and communicate incidents district-wide.
Facility Insights Dashboards: These ArcGIS Dashboards provide operational metrics across the district, such as classroom square footage, auditorium capacities, and other facility inventory data. This information informs budgeting, capital improvement planning, and maintenance decisions.
ArcGIS Indoors Space Planner and Staff Directory: Using the Indoors Space Planner application, WCPSS tracks where staff members are located across campuses, improving operational planning and helping coordinate office and classroom assignments.
ArcGIS Indoors Floor Plan Editor: Previously, WCPSS outsourced floor plan management. With the Floor Plan Editor tool, both GIS and non-GIS staff can now edit and update floor plans in-house, reducing dependency on external vendors while ensuring data always stays current.
Asset Data Collection: ArcGIS Field Maps was deployed to support asset data collection for multiple departments across the district. The application was configured with streamlined, role-based forms that automatically populate required ArcGIS Indoors fields, ensuring data consistency with the Indoors information model. This approach enabled faster, more efficient field workflows while reducing manual data entry and post-processing, allowing staff to capture accurate asset information directly from the field.
Next Steps and On-Going Support
The deployment of ArcGIS Indoors is an ongoing effort. WCPSS plans to continue adding more data to the geodatabase, integrate with third-party systems such as Oracle for occupancy management and HR system integration, security camera platforms, and refine workflows for each department to maximize operational efficiency. “We now design workflows assuming shared data from the start, and that’s setting WCPSS up for success for the next decade of growth,” said Rob Siwiec. Map I.T. continues to provide training, technical support, data governance protocols, and guidance to ensure WCPSS staff are fully empowered to manage their data in-house. As the district continues to grow, ArcGIS Indoors will serve as a central platform to support collaboration, improve operational decision-making, and enhance safety and facility management across all WCPSS campuses.
WHO IS MAP I.T.?
Map I.T. is a geospatial consulting firm that helps organizations create accurate maps and actionable data to support safer, more efficient, and better-connected facilities. As a leading national campus and indoor mapping firm, we bridge the gap between technology, data, and people, making critical information accessible when and where it’s needed most. As an Esri Business Partner and ArcGIS Indoors Specialty Partner, we specialize in implementing GIS solutions designed specifically for school safety and security, facility management, space planning , and more!
Visit our website at: www.map-it-llc.com Email us at: info@map-it-llc.com