School2Share (S2S): A Computational Approach for the Efficient Management of Shared Facilities in Egypt

This paper introduces School2Share, a cloud-based system, that utilizes BIM and GIS for the efficient management of shared school facilities. Despite the abundance of schools in developing countries, there remains a significant lack of facilities per school and an underutilization of resources and regulatory mechanisms that are true to children needs. Several efforts have been developed to enhance the management of school facilities in terms of space and asset management, automating labor-intensive tasks, and managing campus facilities and curricula, but none address the efficient management of school networks in relation to funding and government agencies, or underprivileged children in need of available and underutilized school facilities. Our approach links data from different stakeholders using BIM and GIS and addresses the efficient management of the integration and sharing of school facilities. We present the system architecture and technology infrastructure of the proposed system and a working prototype for an existing neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt, demonstrating the main functionalities, workflows, and different portals. As our approach incorporates all stakeholders including children, schools, local authorities, and funding agencies, we argue that it empowers children to have broader access to community-based education at three hierarchical levels: children-to-school interaction, where children identify school facilities that address their needs in a customized fashion; school-to-school interaction, where shared and round-the-clock activities are facilitated through a comprehensive and real-time networked system, and policies and development, where funding agencies identify schools and communities in need of development through an informed system, and authorities monitor effective use of funding.