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Buildings & Sites

CDT organizes assets in a two-level hierarchy: Sites contain Buildings, and Buildings contain files and sub-assets. This maps directly to how real-world facilities are managed — a campus or district is a Site; the individual facilities within it are Buildings.

Goal​

Create a Site, add Buildings to it, attach files, and configure access for your team.

Prerequisites​

  • A CDT account with User or Admin role to create or edit assets.
  • A clear idea of the geographic boundary — even a rough one.

Create a Site​

Goal: set up a Site so you can group buildings under it.

You can create a Site by drawing it on the map, or from the Sites list.

Draw it on the map​

  1. Open the map viewer and navigate to the area.
  2. Click New Site.
  3. Enter a Name.
  4. Start drawing and click on the map to place the boundary points. Close the boundary by clicking the first point again.

The Site is created when you close the boundary — there are no separate longitude/latitude fields and no Save button; the location comes from the shape you draw.

From the Sites list​

Open the Sites list and add a new Site there. Use this when you want to add a Site without drawing on the map.

Result: the Site appears on the map and in the Sites list.

Attach a Building to a Site​

Goal: add a Building under a Site.

  1. Open the Site.
  2. Switch to the Associated Buildings tab.
  3. Click Attach Building.
  4. Fill in the building's name and any other required fields shown in the dialog.
  5. Click Save.

Result: the building appears as a marker on the map and in the buildings list under the Site.

Attach files to a Building​

Goal: associate IFC, point clouds, drawings, or documents with a Building.

  1. Open the building.
  2. Switch to the Files tab.
  3. Click Upload and choose the files.
  4. The file metadata is automatically linked to the building. IFC files are converted to Fragments format on upload.

Result: files are listed under the building and accessible to anyone with permission.

For details on supported formats and the upload pipeline, see File Management.

Edit Building metadata​

Goal: correct or augment the data record for a Building.

  1. Open the building.
  2. Click Edit in the details panel.
  3. Update any of:
FieldDescription
NameDisplay name.
Year of Building ConstructionUsed for filtering and retrofit planning.
CoordinateLongitude / latitude of the building origin.
  1. Click Save.

Result: the record is updated and the change appears immediately in lists and on the map.

Goal: find a subset of buildings on a Site.

  1. Open the Buildings list.
  2. Use the filter controls at the top:
    • Construction year range
    • Site
  3. Click any result to open it.

Result: the list narrows to matching buildings; the map highlights them in place.

Storage layers​

Files attached to a building are split across two storage layers:

  • Binary payloads — stored in MinIO (S3-compatible).
  • Metadata — stored in PostgreSQL, indexed for fast querying.

The platform also distinguishes between:

  • Georeferenced files — defined by longitude/latitude, placed on the map automatically.
  • Local Cartesian files — defined by XYZ coordinates relative to the building origin, displayed in the BIM viewer.

Both types record provenance (author, timestamp) and respect permission-based access.

Access control​

A Building's files and metadata are visible to members of its Organization based on their role:

RolePermissions
ViewerRead files and metadata.
UserRead everything; create, edit, and delete buildings, sites, files, and comments.
AdminFull control, including managing members and organization settings.

Roles enforce on the API server-side, not just in the UI. See Authorization → Permission reference for the full matrix.