Through room types and room matching, room management gives every Smart Location room a functional classification.
Room types
A room type defines the purpose and properties of a space. It carries a Profile that classifies the space (for example, Patient and Exam, Supply Storage, or Staff Station), along with settings for maximum capacity, target occupancy, and expected Entity Types. Typical examples include "Exam Room," "Conference Room," and "Nursing Station."
A single room type, such as "Medication Storage," can be matched to many rooms across many floors.
Room matching
Room matching assigns a room type to a specific Smart Location room. Until a room is matched, it has no functional classification, so Kio Apps cannot report on it by type.
For the Kio Workspace Insights app, you can also set an Occupancy Method when matching a room. This applies only to Workspace Insights — it tells the app how to measure occupancy in the space — and is not required for other Kio Apps:
| Occupancy method | How occupancy is measured |
|---|---|
| People in Room | Counts Tags detected within the room boundary |
| Occupied Workstations | Counts occupied desk or workstation seats |
| Footfall | Counts entries and exits using a Footfall Space linked to the room |
The Footfall option requires a Footfall Space to have been created in Smart Location and linked during room matching.
Why room management matters
Matching a room to a room type is what lets the Kio Apps act on it by function instead of treating it as an anonymous space. Once matched, the apps can automatically update the status of entities in the room, apply PAR levels, and report on the space by type — including occupancy reporting in Workspace Insights. Without a room type, a room produces only raw location data that no app can act on.
Relationship to Smart Location
Rooms must exist in Smart Location before they appear in Room Matching. The setup order is:
- Draw rooms on a floor in Smart Location
- Create room types in Company Settings
- Match rooms to room types in Company Settings