Content last reviewed:
#1: Access the online files
All the Carleton University site plans (building floor plans, etc.) are available online for Carleton community members. If you have not already signed our GIS Data Use Agreement, you will be prompted to do so.
The folders titled with years and months (e.g. 2022_August) are when we received updated files from Carleton Facilities Management.
You may want to familiarize yourself with what is available in each folder, especially if you're interested in features of the campus not associated with individual buildings (e.g.: storm drains, tunnels, etc.).
**If you're looking for GIS datasets for Carleton (e.g.: building outlines, parking lots, etc.), go to this resource.
#2: Open the ARCHITECTURAL BASE PLANS folder in your year/month of choice, find the folder for your building, then download it.
Please note that some building names have recently changed and are currently found under their previous names in the building data. These buildings include:
- Nideyinàn [NN], formerly University Centre [UC]
- Pigiarvik [PK], formerly Robertson Hall [RO]
- Teraanga Commons [TC], formerly Residence Commons [CO]
Each building has its own zipped (compressed) folder that includes DWG (AutoCAD) and PDF files of floor plans for that building. The building numbering system is seemingly arbitrary but there are letters in each folder name that are the two-letter building code. For example, 01(TB) is Tory Building. The first 20 buildings are below (all the building codes are in the Destination Building list on the campus map):
- Tory Building (TB)
- MacOdrum Library (ML)
- Patterson Hall (PA)
- Southam Hall (SA)
- Renfrew House (RH)
- Lanark House (LH)
- University Centre (UC) - now Nideyinàn
- Gymnasium (GY)
- Athletics Building (AC)
- MacKenzie Building (ME)
- Maintenance Building (MB)
- Steacie Building (SC)
- Herzberg Building (HP)
- Russel House & Grenville House (RU & GR)
- Loeb Building (LA)
- Nesbitt Biology Building (NB)
- Robertson Hall (RO) - now Pigiarvik
- Glengary House (GH)
- Residence Commons (CO) - now Teraanga Commons
- Parking Garage (PG)
#3: Open ARCHIVES and find the folder for your building.
As with the ARCHITECTURAL BASE PLANS folder, each building has its own zipped folder. Each building zipped folder contains further numbered subfolders and a PDF index to all the files. You'll probably need to unzip the folder once it's downloaded.
If the numbered subfolders for your building are only numbers with no text, this list of folder numbers is about to make your file retrieval easier:
- Site plans
- Architectural
- Structural
- Mechanical
- Plumbing
- Electrical
- Drawings or miscellaneous (depends on the building)
#4: Retrieve the required files you need from the numbered subfolders, as listed above.
This should have you covered. If not...
#5: Didn't find everything? Open the PDF index for your building and search for the files you need.
The PDF index is located in the root folder for your building, under 01-ARCHIVES.
This is where things may get interesting.
- Open the PDF index file and take note of the columns on each page: Bldg, No, Project/Directory, File Name, Page No., Description of Drawing, and Date Issued.
- Search the document (Ctrl-F or ⌘-F) to find the files you're looking for. For example, if you need mechanical plans, search the PDF index for mechanical (or just mech or other shortened form) and browse the results to find what you need.
- Once you've found something that sounds useful, note the NO (folder number) and File Name columns as this tells you where to locate the file. In this example, the 1979 Mechanical (Existing Thermostats & Fan Coils 3, 4 & 5 Levels) file has 4 in the NO column and 1-4-79.TIF in the File Name column. Therefore, the 1-4-79.TIF file is found in subfolder 4 in the building folder: J:\Carleton_University_Campus\Construction_Services_Site\01-BLDG ARCHIVE DWGS\01 (TB)\4\1-4-79.TIF.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at gis@carleton.ca!
