History

General

The original mission and continuing core effort of the GIS / CAD Office is to archive and provide access to the record construction documents (as-builts) that have been used to build and renovate the ºÚÁÏ³Ô¹Ï Campus (buildings, site, and miscellaneous structures) since its' inception.  All original paper-based drawings have been scanned and are stored digitally (as PDFs) for ease of access. Some of these scans are of original drawings of buildings that are more than 100 years old and are historically significant. These original paper drawings are now housed at CU's Heritage Center in the Old Main building. Since the inception of the digital age and use of  a²Ô»å , we store record drawings in these formats as well as PDFs (availability of REVIT varies by project). 

We use a document management system called that allows us to search these archives by individual drawing sheets using attributes such as discipline, floor level, drawing type, etc. If you are a staff member of Facilities Management, you can access these archives right from your desk. Otherwise, if you are a student or researching for a project, you are welcome to visit our office to use Meridian to access the drawings. Please contact us at fmcad@colorado.edu and we will be happy to help find documents for you. 

Using the drawings submitted by designers or by surveying buildings we create or update "Base Floor Plans" using . The floor plans are available as dwg and pdf files and show a general representation of a floor of a building. This generally includes walls, doors, windows, columns, plumbing fixtures, and permanently mounted items.   

GIS

Enlighten Bi Geoportal (staff only)

Munsys was our original GIS platform where we had been managing all campus utilities and other information listed in the GIS Table of Contents through the start of 2024, and is no longer being updated. Enlighten was a web based tool (requiring a personal license) for finding, visualizing and accessing maps and other information stored across campus databases and archives. It was an interactive campus map that ties information to a location on campus. We decommissioned Enlighten in 2024 and have migrated all of the data over to our CU GIS Portal on the ESRI platform. If you were an enlighten user in the past, please use the CU GIS Portal now.

Historical Information on Enlighten

Enlighten was a great tool for finding, visualizing and accessing maps and other information stored across campus databases and archives. It was an interactive campus map that tied information to a location on campus . You could view and print a standard campus map or turn on various layers such as utilities, trees, ground panels, tunnels, aerial imagery, floor plans, and much more.

More Information

Detailed information about objects on the map such as pipe sizes or square footage appeared as you hovered a mouse over an object. Enlighten provided new ways to view information, such as FAMIS data about buildings (year built, current projects, etc.), or find drawings - for example, you could find a drawing of a section of tunnel stored on Meridian by clicking on that tunnel on the map. Different campus groups could collaborate and avoid conflicts by mapping out construction boundaries. For instance, if a PD&C Project Manager mapped their project on Enlighten, Admissions could redirect their tour group to avoid the construction area, or a grass grow-in could have been scheduled for the week after soccer camp rather than before. Users also had the ability to search, perform spatial analysis, and export large amounts of data to spreadsheets. We could help anyone map anything on campus by training them to use our GPS equipment, as had been done for campus trees, light poles, and benches. Enlighten was growing and improving nearly as quickly as campus, and GIS continues to grow but now on the CU GIS Portal via the ESRI Platform

License Fees

Enlighten licenses were $100 per user per year and expired each January. Facilities Management licenses were paid for in bulk by the department, but non-FM users could contact their supervisor for approval before requesting a license. The cost of the license may have been pro-rated based on the time of year when requesting a license. 

GPS Device Data Collection

Our office used to have an operation Trimble GPS data collector, including a laser range finder. This enabled us to perform field surveys and geolocational data collection. We now leverage surveys from projects to keep our data up to date along with mobile device data collection. With these tools and our GIS powers, provide highly accurate products for campus.