A change in granularity: measure space utilization through smart technologies

Abstract

Purpose Workplace space utilization data reveals patterns of space usage, the occupants’ presence and mobility within the office building. Nowadays, emerging technology such as smart sensors and devices can revolutionize the measurement of space utilization data, which is originally dominated by human observers with paper and pencil. However, these novel instruments are often used in an old fashion, which restricts the exploitation of their full potential. This study aims to shed new light on the benefits and limits of using smart technology in measuring space utilization data and discusses the challenges and opportunities in analyzing the data measured by smart sensors. Design/methodology/approach First, the literature regarding common methods and previous studies about office space utilization measurement was reviewed. Then, a data set consisting of space utilization data collected through Passive Infra-Red sensors for 35 meeting rooms in a bank building was carefully evaluated. Finally, the space utilization results based on methods calculated in two different granularities were compared. Findings The number of occupied hours calculated at an hour level was 1.32-hour larger than that calculated at a minute level. As both results show the concept of space utilization, which was the amount of time that the space was occupied, this paper revealed a gap between the two space utilization calculation methods and further discussed the issues and challenges for future space utilization data analysis and benchmarking. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study critically addressing office space utilization issues by comparing calculation methods in different granularity.

User-Centric Proximity Estimation Using Smartphone Radio Fingerprinting

“…In addition to the disease control domain, proximity detection approaches are also applicable in social sciences to better understand human interaction [ 6 , 7 ], in healthcare where monitoring the number of social interactions could help in the care of patients with certain diseases [ 8 , 9 ], and in the security domain for access control [ 10 ], intruder detection [ 11 ] and surveillance [ 12 ]. Occupancy and proximity detection also have interesting applications in the building control domain for activating heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, lighting and other equipment [ 13 , 14 ], emergency management [ 15 ], and space utilization and monitoring of occupancy and movement patterns, which are important in pandemic conditions, and more generally in shared workspace environments [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. The wide range of applicability of proximity/occupancy detection approaches confirms the need for further research toward non-intrusive, accurate, and energy-efficient solutions.…”

Study workplace space occupancy: a review of measures and technologies

“…Meanwhile, there are two challenges in identifying the most suitable occupancy measures. First, there is a lack of consistency in the measurement units and granularity levels in previous projects (Tagliaro et al , 2020). This inconsistency in occupancy benchmarking creates challenges for facility managers to set up goals for occupancy monitoring.…”

Comprehensive Simulation-based Workflow to Assess the Performance of Occupancy-based Controls and Operations in Office Buildings

“…Facility managers can leverage occupancy sensing technologies to determine space usage and occupancy mobility patterns for security in buildings [15][37], improve health and safety by adjusting ventilation rate for disease transmission according to the number of occupants [38], and locate individuals in case of an emergency evacuation by first responders [17].…”

“…Real estate is the second biggest expense for businesses, only second to labor costs [71]. Both designers and facility managers are interested to know how space is being used in order to meet the demand while promoting efficient occupation of space [15].…”

“…The adoption of various sensing technologies in building management and operation has allowed the collection of a vast amount of data to facilitate effective building management while maintaining a comfortable and safe environment for occupants. The collection of occupancy data has been useful in many building applications including adaptive HVAC, lighting and office equipment controls [10], [12], [13], cleaning services 2 [14], space utilization analysis [15], disease control [16], emergency evacuation [17],…”