Back to Basics: Smart Building IoT Occupancy and Utilization Data

Lakshmi Venkataiah
March 16, 2023

Building occupancy metrics became an urgent requirement of organizations post-pandemic that needed a way to understand success of return-to-work policy. Occupancy data was sought by facilities teams to understand attendance as well as average-space usage for forecasting space needs and identifying unused space to remove from portfolios. However, there is even more insight to glean from occupancy data than average occupancy. Some types of occupancy data, such as those collected by Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, can also uncover utilization, meaning how much space capacity is used. With this information, organizations can learn occupant behavior patterns and automate building processes, improving energy cost savings as a result. Below is an overview of occupancy and utilization data types with some top use cases you can consider implementing at your organization. 

Types of Occupancy and Utilization Data 

Smart building occupancy data APIs (application programming interfaces) provide access to data related to occupancy in buildings that are equipped with sensor technologies. Smart building occupancy data APIs allow developers to access and analyze information related to the number of people in a building, their movement patterns, and other related metrics. Below are the Enlighted Occupancy API offerings to orient you to the types required to achieve smart building use cases.

Smart Building IoT Use Cases Powered by Occupancy Data 

To make occupancy data actionable, APIs are accessed by developers and made available in meaningful ways through software applications. This includes reporting and dashboard tools such as Space, integrations with third-party solutions such as Building Management Systems (BMS) and Integrated Workplace Management Systems (iWMS), and business intelligence tools such as Tableau. These are some of the top use cases for operationalizing occupancy and utilization data.    

Building Automation and Efficiencies 

Occupant Experience and Security 

Getting Started 

IoT sensor occupancy data APIs offer a wealth of information that can be used to automate and optimize building operations, enhance occupant experience, and improve energy efficiency. Learn more about our occupancy insights offerings, which use cases to address first, and how to make sense of your smart building IoT data here.


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