NC State University Enterprise GIS
Learn about GIS and how we use it to Support and Serve our Campus Operations and Community.
WHAT IS GIS?
A Geographic Information System (GIS) combines technology and data to solve location-based problems and tells stories by visualizing the world around an area of interest. GIS maps are often dynamic and interactive, allowing users to gather information, enter new information, or examine spatial patterns.
MAPPING OUR CAMPUS
Ove the past 100+ years, mapping of NC State University campus evolved from hand-drawn paper maps to digital forms generated using computer aided design (CAD) to our current system, an interactive online campus map that is enabled by our Enterprise GIS.
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ENTERPRISE GIS
The Enterprise GIS group, part of the Office of the University Architect, was formed in 2015 to begin migrating campus features and mapping from CAD to GIS. The group creates, maintains, and updates a central repository of GIS data and maps for Facilities as well as other departments and groups at NC State. This GIS data tells us the location of and information about our campus boundaries, parcels, buildings, streets, athletic fields, walks, utilities, and more. Below are some facts about some of the data we maintain.
Land & Buildings
We maintain and continue to update GIS layers showing NC State owned parcels and buildings across the state of NC which includes:
- over 100,000 acres statewide
- approximately 17 million GSF in buildings statewide
- over 4,000 acres in Wake County
- over 600 buildings in Wake County encompassing approximately 16 million GSF
Utilities
Since forming the Enterprise GIS group, ~77,000 data features from 7 key utility systems have been converted from CAD to GIS:
- Chilled Water: ~3420 features including ~19 miles of linear features
- Gas: ~1250 features including ~29 miles of linear features
- Electrical: ~20,250 features including ~189 miles of linear features
- Sanitary Sewer: ~8530 features including ~51 miles of linear features
- Steam: ~3850 features including ~27 miles of linear features
- Stormwater: ~22,430 features including ~95 miles of linear features
- Water: ~17,270 features including ~86 miles of linear features
Planimetrics
Campus basemap features have been converted from CAD and are updated using new as-built and survey information. We contribute these GIS layers to the ESRI Community Maps program to enrich the basemap we use in our mapping applications:
- athletic fields and lines
- buildings
- landscape areas
- roadway surfaces
- walks
Accessibility
Detailed GIS layers depicting the physical accessibility of campus facilities were developed and are shown on our Campus Map . These layers show accessible parking and the accessibility of facility entrances, campus paths, and buildings.
As you know, our campus is continuously changing and growing, which means our GIS data and maps must be maintained and updated. This typically involves routine workflows to convert CAD layers to GIS, integration with other database management systems, and data collection and editing through field surveys and observations. The 'enterprise' part of GIS means we have an integrated system that allows multiple users to view, edit, and share our data simultaneously. For example, a new feature surveyed in the field can be automatically seen by a user viewing a map on their desktop.
Image Credit: Andrew Futrell, Utilities & Engineering Services
Ultimately, all of this valuable data feeds into mapping applications that we develop and maintain to inform our campus community and support campus operations. This includes public-facing maps and private, secured maps designed for specific users, such as the NC State Utilities Viewer and the NC State Wolf Tracts Viewer, a mapping and document resource for University land holdings, leased parcels, and easements. Explore a few of our public-facing mapping applications below.
Use the NC State Campus Map to gather all sorts of helpful information about our campus, such as directions to campus buildings, which buildings have accessible entrances with openers, the locations of and timelines for active construction projects, locations of Wolfline stops and links to live Wolfline route info.
Explore the NC State Stormwater Viewer to look at the stormwater network of pipes, junctions, inlets and valves. Also, view the various stormwater control features implemented across campus.
View the Emergency Resources map to find locations of AEDs and Blue Lights across campus. Click on an AED or Blue Light point to see a descriptive location.
WHAT'S AHEAD?
Since beginning in 2015, NC State has implemented a robust Enterprise GIS that stores and serves valuable data about our campus facilities and infrastructure. We are always looking for opportunities to improve upon and promote the use of our data and maps to serve and support campus operations and our community.
With this Enterprise GIS implemented, we're also looking to establish new priorities. A GIS Roadmap project was completed in 2022 to evaluate and make recommendations for the next 3 years. This roadmap project involved a review of GIS implementations at peer institutions and stakeholder interviews to recommend areas of opportunity.
The Enterprise GIS team is beginning to work on implementing the roadmap recommendations which include increased outreach, training, and comprehensive mapping solutions to support internal data access and field data collection.
TAKE OUR SURVEY
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about what we do with Enterprise GIS. If you have a few minutes, please take our survey so we can learn more about your knowledge or use of GIS or to share ways that we can use GIS to support you. Also, use the survey to tell us about your favorite building or space on campus and view the results in the map below.
Survey Results Map: Favorite Places and Spaces on Campus
Navigate around the map to view favorite buildings and spaces on campus. Click on a star to learn why these spots are favorites.
