Are your rooms and buildings used? What to measure

A room can be booked every week and still stand empty, and a floor can be let and still be quiet. The schedule records what was reserved but not how many turned up. The sections below explain how the use of rooms and buildings is measured and what the figures can settle, with links to the pages that go deeper for each setting.

How is the use of a room or a building measured?

The measure is the number of people present in a space, by hour and day, read across weeks and seasons. Wi-Fi shows how many are in a building and how the number rises and falls, zone by zone. A 3D sensor adds an exact count at a door.

Wi-Fi counting uses the access points a building already has and needs no cameras. A 3D sensor is fitted only at the doors where the number has to be exact. Over months the counts build a record of how use varies, and a separate guide explains how occupancy is counted. Standard figures are ready the day after the visit, and the data deliverables list what you receive.

Bumbee Labs is the company behind the only footfall method in Europe approved by a data protection authority.

How can you tell a booked room from a used one?

Count the people in the room by hour and set the count beside the booking schedule. A reserved room with few people in it stands out. A hotel that set aside a meeting room for a large group can compare the number the group ordered for with the number actually present.

Sports halls are read the same way, with hourly figures showing whether the slots on the booking schedule are in use. The schedule stays in your own booking system, and the count is compared with it.

Which zones, floors and buildings show low space utilisation?

Zone counts show which parts of a building are busy, which stand idle, and at what times of day. A library can see which of its areas go unused, a hotel which meeting rooms fill, and a property owner whether floors, units and common areas see steady use or stay quiet.

The same measures can be compared across buildings and seasons. As an illustration only, and not a client result, a large university campus could see which of its rooms and buildings are underused.

Can the figures show whether we need all our space?

They show how often each space is used, at what times, and how that has changed across the seasons, which is what a review of space needs to work from. Whether a space is kept, reworked, combined or let out is decided by the people responsible for it, with the figures as their evidence.

Before a rebuild or a move, zone counts show which areas are busy and which see little use, so the plan can start from measured use.

How do we start measuring how space is used?

Start from the Wi-Fi network the building already has, and add a 3D sensor only at the doors that need an exact figure. A first step can be small, such as one checkpoint at a door. Book a demo and we will look at which rooms and buildings to begin with.