Abstract

Getting Out: How ArcGIS helped a campus protect it students
Track: Facilities
Authors: Andrew Wright

Washington College, a small liberal arts college on Marylands upper eastern shore, wanted to make sure every student knew how to get out of their residence hall in the event of an emergency. While this may seem like a small problem too many, for a small college of 1,400 students with none of their buildings blueprints in electronic form and very little resources to accomplish the task, it was anything but small.

Through the use of ArcGIS 10's georeferencing, spatial adjustment and data driven pages functionality the Washington Colleges GIS Lab was able produce a map to be placed on the back of every residence hall room door showing the layout of the floor and the most direct path out of the building. The initial project continues to grow beyond its initial intent helping to further the use and application of GIS on campus.