Integration Guide

Overview

This guide walks through the end-to-end setup of the Haltian IoT integration with Microsoft Places. The process involves both customer and Haltian tasks:

Setup Process Overview

%%{init: {'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': {'primaryColor': '#F6FAFA', 'primaryTextColor': '#143633', 'primaryBorderColor': '#143633', 'lineColor': '#143633', 'secondaryColor': '#C7FDE6', 'tertiaryColor': '#73F9C1', 'clusterBkg': '#ffffff', 'clusterBorder': '#143633', 'edgeLabelBackground': '#ffffff'}}}%%
flowchart TB
    subgraph Customer["Customer Tasks"]
        S1["1. Configure\nBuildings & Floors"]
        S2["2. Configure\nFloorplans"]
        S3["3. Enable\nPlaces Finder"]
        S4["4. Configure\nDesk Booking"]
    end

    subgraph Haltian["Haltian Tasks"]
        S2H["2. Prepare\nIMDF Files"]
        S5["5. Map Sensors\nto Resources"]
        S6["6. Enable Occupancy\nData Feed"]
    end

    S1 --> S2
    S2H --> S2
    S2 --> S3
    S3 --> S4
    S4 --> S5
    S5 --> S6

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 resources:

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

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-resource mapping with Haltian
• Check sensor connectivity in Haltian IoT Studio
• Confirm API integration is active
• Check that sensors have recent lastSeen timestamps in IoT Studio
• Ensure the correct device group is mapped if using the Occupancy Data Engine

Room Release Not Working

• Confirm Teams Premium license is assigned to room mailboxes
• Verify occupancy sensors are reporting to the correct room resource
• Check that automatic room release is enabled in Microsoft Places settings
• Allow 5–10 minutes for no-show detection (sensor must confirm the room is empty)

Desk Booking Shows Wrong Status

• Verify one-to-one mapping between desk sensor and bookable workspace
• Check sensor battery level — low battery causes delayed or missed reports
• Confirm sensor is mounted correctly per installation guide

For more common questions, see the FAQ.

Support

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

Next Steps

• Supported Sensors — Which sensors work with Microsoft Places and how to choose them
• FAQ — Common questions about the integration
• Occupancy Data Engine — How multi-sensor occupancy is calculated