BIM-GIS integration and crowd simulation for fire emergency management in a large diffused university

The integration of BIM (Building Information Modeling) and GIS (Geographic Information System) is promising to develop Asset Management Systems (AMS) for complex systems such as university assets. The potential lies in the ability to connect and contextualize data from several domains and at different scales, considering the relationship between buildings and surroundings, and paving the way towards the definition of Digital Twins for proactive AMS.

In a previous work, an AMS-app was developed through BIM-GIS integration in a web platform aimed at optimizing the Operational and Maintenance (O&M) phase of the large and diffused university of Turin's asset. The main objective was to provide an accessible and integrated database, supporting decision making and improving user experience. An enhanced use of environmental, economic and space resources could be provided in both ordinary and emergencies scenarios with a significant impact on sustainability and efficiency throughout the asset lifecycle.

The paper presents the application of such a BIM-GIS platform and AMS-app for fire emergencies management through a case study. It illustrates the crowd simulation methodology developed, replicable to analyse the current fire safety level of the whole university asset and display it through interactive dashboards. It describes how this is key to identify non-compliances and intervention priorities, in addition to the data needed for each building. Furthermore, its importance for the long-term objective of developing DTs and active wayfinding systems useful for rescuers and users during fire emergencies is illustrated, and useful data which should be provided from on field sensors were identified.