{"id":23310,"date":"2026-04-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=23310"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:32:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T23:32:53","slug":"transforming-facility-operations-at-microsoft-with-ai-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/transforming-facility-operations-at-microsoft-with-ai-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"Transforming facility operations at Microsoft with AI maps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Indoor building maps matter the moment accurate location data become important to solving an issue in facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a facilities service technician responding to a high\u2011priority heating issue. The service ticket has the right building, floor and space, but no clear indication of where in the space the problem exactly is\u2014this can be a particularly challenging problem when dealing with large spaces like we do here at Microsoft. Making matters more complicated, the technician might also need specialized schematics that are behind walls and ceilings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, it might have taken that technician a long time to get that necessary context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to a solution we created that is internal to Microsoft, our indoor maps are now always current. (And while this solution isn’t presently available to customers, we’re sharing our story around it in hopes that you can learn from our approach.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these maps available, the service ticket mentioned above now includes a visualization of the floor plan, which immediately indicates the correct room and highlights the faulty equipment\u2019s exact location (if already on the floor plan).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technician can now diagnose the problem in minutes. This can be done on their equipment, without the need to understand how to use specialized software or having knowledge of the building\u2019s layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shows the value of indoor maps when they work correctly. But our maps here at Microsoft didn\u2019t always work this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A long-standing map gap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For years, facility service technicians at Microsoft could access floor plans that were stored in a central repository but needed specialized software to view them. Our floor plan files came from a wide variety of vendors, with different naming conventions and drawing standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, we created indoor maps using this data for some buildings requiring a lot of manual work. As a result, updates to the maps were slow and expensive. As soon as a map slipped out of sync with reality, teams stopped relying on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cEnterprises have struggled for years to maintain accurate indoor maps. The heart of this struggle is ultimately standards that are applied inconsistently to the source material.\u201d<\/p>\nVishu Admal, program and product lead, AI indoor maps initiative, Microsoft Digital<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These issues had a real impact on our day\u2011to\u2011day operations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n