UO Spaces demonstrates interconnectedness of people and buildings

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It is said that the University of Oregon is like a small city. So how do we know where everybody lives? That’s where UO Spaces comes in.

UO Spaces houses all active UO building space records including the new Northeast Portland campus and Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston, over nine million square feet of space with over 30,000 rooms.

All public universities are required to house their building space records and there are many different space applications available for purchase. What’s unique about UO Spaces is that it was created by UO employees and is tied to many different functions. 

The application was built by the UO’s Location Innovation Lab in 2014 and recently went through a major overhaul that added some features and increased the speed. UO Spaces is a collaboration between the Location Innovation Lab and Campus Planning staff.

Everyone on campus benefits from information housed in UO Spaces. Here are several examples: 

  • Campus Planning and Facilities Management: Lock and Door Shop for issuing keys and Work Control for emergency and building-related work/construction notifications. 
  • ID Card Services Office: Building access. 
  • Office of the Provost Space Advisory Group: Space assessment and allocation. 
  • Vice President for Research and Innovation: Finance and administrative cost rate negotiation related to research and grant funding. 
  • Human Resources: Lactation and family friendly resources management. 
  • UO Campus Map: Floor plan and space utilization details. 
  • Office of the Registrar: Classroom seat/station management for course scheduling. 
  • Committee for Academic Infrastructure: Classroom management and funding allocations. 
  • State of Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission: Capital budget request decisions. 

“The changes to UO Spaces have made it much easier to view and edit data. The UI is intuitive for new users and old users will find a familiar system with innovative tools that make using the application more seamless,” said Zoey Johnson, business services coordinator for Safety and Risk Services. Johnson is also an editor in UO Spaces.

There are over 200 unit editors who provide department-level space utilization and occupant details. All employees are encouraged to have “read access” to UO Spaces and to reach out to uospaces@uoregon.edu if they identify details that need to be updated.  

—By Jennifer Archer, University Communications