Microsoft Places Integration

Introduction

Microsoft Places is an AI-powered workplace app for flexible work. It helps organizations:

• Reimagine flexible work with AI
• Modernize how employees connect for in-office days
• Optimize space management with occupancy and utilization data

Haltian IoT sensors provide real-time occupancy data to Microsoft Places, enabling accurate room availability, desk booking, and space analytics.

For the latest Microsoft Places information, see the Microsoft Places documentation.

Overview

This integration involves:

Prerequisites

License Requirements

Microsoft Places features require specific licenses:

See Microsoft’s license requirements for current details.

Tools Required

• PowerShell 7.4.0+ - Download
• Microsoft Places PowerShell module:

Install-Module -Name MicrosoftPlaces -Force

Permissions

You need two Exchange Online management roles:

• TenantPlacesManagement - Manage Places
• MailRecipient - Manage users and mailboxes

If you have the Exchange Administrator role, you likely have these permissions. Otherwise:

New-ManagementRoleAssignment -Role TenantPlacesManagement -User <UPN>

Step 1: Configure Buildings and Floors (Customer)

1.1 Create Building Hierarchy

1. Launch PowerShell 7 as Administrator
2. Connect to Microsoft Places:

Connect-MicrosoftPlaces

3. Initialize the hierarchy:

Initialize-Places

4. Select Option 1 to create a CSV file from existing room data

The generated CSV contains your organization’s rooms and workspaces with inferred building/floor names.

1.2 Review and Edit CSV

1. Open the CSV file
2. Correct building and floor names in InferredBuildingName and InferredFloorName columns
3. Remove all columns except:
   • InferredBuildingName
   • InferredFloorName
   • InferredSectionName
   • PrimarySmtpAddress
4. Save and close the file

1.3 Upload Hierarchy

Initialize-Places

Select Option 2 to import your edited CSV file.

1.4 Verify

Check that buildings appear in Microsoft Teams or Outlook calendar workplace presence settings.

1.5 Add Metadata (Optional)

Add capacity, A/V equipment, room pictures using Set-PlaceV3:

Set-PlaceV3 -Identity "meeting-room@contoso.com" -Capacity 10 -AudioDevices "Teams Room"

See Set-PlaceV3 documentation for full options.

Step 2: Configure Floorplans (Customer + Haltian)

Floor plans enable users to see building layouts and find rooms/desks visually.

2.1 Export Spatial Information (Customer)

1. Find the building PlaceId:

Get-PlaceV3 -Type Building | ? {$_.DisplayName -eq 'Your Building Name'} | ft DisplayName,PlaceId

2. Export building data to CSV:

Get-PlaceV3 -AncestorId <BuildingPlaceId> | Export-Csv "YourBuilding.csv" -NoTypeInformation

3. Share this CSV file with Haltian

2.2 Prepare IMDF Files (Haltian)

Haltian creates IMDF (Indoor Mapping Data Format) files:

• One zipped folder per building containing:
  • building.geojson
  • footprint.geojson
  • level.geojson
  • unit.geojson

Requirements:

• Maps must be georeferenced
• Each package contains only one building
• Floor ordinal values match Microsoft Places SortOrder
• Names use language code format:

{
  "properties": {
    "name": {
      "en": "3rd Floor"
    }
  }
}

2.3 Generate Correlation File (Customer)

1. First run - extract map features:

Import-MapCorrelations -MapFilePath "path\to\imdffile.zip"

This creates mapfeatures.csv.

2. Second run - correlate with Places data:

Import-MapCorrelations -MapFilePath "path\to\imdffile.zip" -CorrelationsFilePath "path\to\mapfeatures.csv"

2.4 Correlate Spaces (Customer)

1. Open the building CSV (from Step 2.1) and mapfeatures.csv side by side
2. For each building, floor, and room: copy PlaceId, Name, and Type from building CSV to mapfeatures CSV
3. Save the file

2.5 Update IMDF with Correlations (Customer)

Import-MapCorrelations -MapFilePath "path\to\imdffile.zip" -CorrelationsFilePath "path\to\mapfeatures.csv"

This creates imdf_correlated.zip.

2.6 Import Maps (Customer)

1. Get the building PlaceId:

Get-PlaceV3 -Type Building | ? {$_.DisplayName -eq 'Your Building'} | ft DisplayName,PlaceId

2. Import the correlated maps:

New-Map -BuildingId <BuildingPlaceId> -FilePath "path\to\imdf_correlated.zip"

Step 3: Enable Places Finder (Customer)

Places Finder replaces the Room Finder experience in Outlook and Teams.

Enable for Specific Group

Set-PlacesSettings -PlacesFinderEnabled 'Default:false,OID:<group-object-id>:true'

Enable for Everyone

Set-PlacesSettings -PlacesFinderEnabled 'Default:true'

Verify Settings

Get-PlacesSettings

Step 4: Configure Desk Booking (Customer)

Enable desk booking for workspaces in Microsoft Places. See Microsoft’s desk booking documentation for details.

Step 5: Sensor Mapping (Haltian)

Haltian maps physical sensors to Microsoft Places assets:

1. Room sensors - Mapped to meeting room resources
2. Desk sensors - Mapped to bookable desk resources
3. Zone sensors - Mapped to floor sections

This enables:

• Real-time room availability
• Desk occupancy status
• Space utilization analytics

Data Flow

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sequenceDiagram
    participant S as Haltian Sensors
    participant H as Haltian IoT Platform
    participant M as Microsoft Places
    participant U as End Users

    S->>H: Occupancy measurements
    H->>M: Occupancy data (API)
    M->>U: Room/desk availability
    U->>M: Book room/desk
    M->>U: Confirmation

Troubleshooting

Buildings Not Appearing

• Verify CSV was imported successfully with Initialize-Places
• Check building names match exactly
• Wait up to 1 hour for sync

Maps Not Displaying

• Verify IMDF files follow Apple IMDF specifications
• Check all correlations are complete in mapfeatures.csv
• Ensure floor ordinal values match SortOrder

Occupancy Data Not Updating

• Verify sensor-to-asset mapping with Haltian
• Check sensor connectivity in Haltian IoT Studio
• Confirm API integration is active

Support

• Microsoft Places: Microsoft documentation
• Haltian Integration: support@haltian.com