KEARNEY – The University of Nebraska at Kearney is using new interactive software to develop floor plans that help set room occupancy levels, seating configurations and help with physical distancing in buildings across campus.
As part of its reopening plan and work to safeguard students and employees from the coronavirus, UNK partnered with Georgia-based company Maptician to analyze and reconfigure floor plans in 17 buildings across its campus. The technology is expected to be implemented in different phases during the fall semester.
Utilizing Maptician’s space management platform, UNK conducted a social distancing analysis of more than 1 million square feet of space and developed 39 floor plans in numerous classrooms and other building spaces. The software allows UNK to visually create room and furniture configurations that meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and consider distancing, entry/exit plans and placement of resources such as hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes.
“It’s important that our students and staff feel safe as they return to campus,” said Chancellor Doug Kristensen. “We are taking every precaution as we plan our reopening, and Maptician’s technology is an important part of these efforts. Its software gives us the ability to visualize and highlight social distancing proximity risks, determine safe classroom occupancy levels and make necessary adjustments.”
Maptician worked with a team of five UNK students to help implement the necessary changes on campus. The group, led by Ryan Clark of Kearney, is trained to review the revised floorplans and reconfigure furniture and seating arrangements. Once classes begin, contact tracing can be implemented to identify potential exposure to COVID-19 based on custom date ranges and distance radius identified in the software.
“We want to ensure that UNK has access to tools that can help them adapt their facilities quickly, while focusing on the safety of their students and faculty,” said Nick Eurek, co-founder and president of Maptician. “This allows UNK to visually plan and manage a safe return to campus.”
Maptician is using UNK as a pilot for its new technology and has an agreement with the University of Nebraska to use the software on other campuses in the system. In addition to Clark, UNK students Nate Grimm of Fremont, Riley Harms of Fremont, Michael Koch of Columbus and Kobe Lo of Lexington all worked on the project.
“Our vision is to get this into the hands of UNK students and employees through an app,” said Paul Eurek, Maptician co-founder. “This is a tool that will help identify and eliminate risks in the current COVID environment universities are managing.”
Paul Eurek is a Loup City native, current Lincoln resident and the founder and former CEO of Xpanxion, a global software engineering company with an office in Kearney.
