Free alternative to Visio for making layout maps of a school

MarcLister · 30 Jan 2015 at 10:19

I have been at my current school for nearly 5 years and for all of those 5 years I've had to use Word to edit a document of the school layout and which tutor groups and subjects are taught in each classroom etc. Obviously this is a rather poor way of making a layout map but it is the system that I inherited. It is something I've wanted to change for a while now and could have done since August 2013 when I took over as IT manager.

Part of the reason that I am looking for a proper system for this is that we are having a new building, er, built, and it will be our first two storey building so I'll need to somehow map that.

I know that Visio would be good for this but we wouldn't have the money for this. Are there any programs that are free that I could use to develop a new layout map of the school? If there is something that would cost less than £100 or so I might be able to persuade the boss that a) Word isn't suitable now, b) Word won't be suitable for the new building two storey layout and c) we need a proper program to do this so I'm not spending ages changing the layouts.

roccles · 30 Jan 2015 at 12:16

Do you mean software that would enable you to draw a floor plan of the new building? If so you could try SketchUp

http://www.sketchup.com/

tom_e · 30 Jan 2015 at 12:18

I'm quite surprised a school doesn't have copies of Visio to be honest? I remember using it a fair bit for bits of work when I was at school.

SamuraiTortoise · 30 Jan 2015 at 12:25

If you're OK with Photoshop, and this might not be what you need but you could try the free http://apps.pixlr.com/editor/ - just another option that won't cost you anything.

MarcLister · 30 Jan 2015 at 18:41

roccles said:
Do you mean software that would enable you to draw a floor plan of the new building? If so you could try SketchUp

http://www.sketchup.com/

Yes, that's what I mean. I'll try SketchUp and see what I can do.

tom_e said:
I'm quite surprised a school doesn't have copies of Visio to be honest? I remember using it a fair bit for bits of work when I was at school.

Don't be.

We're a small Special Needs school of 155 students and my precedessor wouldn't have had a clue about stuff like this and, weirdly, he didn't create the maps in Word. The head of English did! I was surprised my ex-boss agreed to use them.

One of my aims of my time in charge of ICT is to make sure that the school has the necessary software for things like this so we can do things properly and professional and not use things like Word in a perverted manner for things they aren't designed for. I can think of quite a few uses for Visio for my job let alone other people in the school who could ask me to do stuff for them with Visio. Might look into Educational pricing of Visio and see if I can persuade the boss to let me buy a licence in April/May.

SamuraiTortoise said:
If you're OK with Photoshop, and this might not be what you need but you could try the free http://apps.pixlr.com/editor/ - just another option that won't cost you anything.

Not gifted at all with Photoshop - a personal weakness I want to correct, at some point.

Will look at that as well as the above suggestions.

lsg1r · 31 Jan 2015 at 00:17

'student' version of visio 2013 professional is £45. Ordered from home too, no special requirements iirc. Project is only like £100 too.

I've bought 2010 version of office, project and visio from them via my Mum (hlta in a school), it says students but it covers staff/faculty as well. I needed it for work and didn't fancy paying full price when I had someone who could get it cheaper due to working at a school

In regards to fee options... openoffice draw or diagramly should cover your needs

kitkat9933 · 31 Jan 2015 at 09:44

Sketchup is really good for this and looks good. This is what I did for our school in https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/em...d-4f5a-94a1-dde2ac8323d8&width=400&height=300

Pho · 31 Jan 2015 at 11:17

How about some of these? They're pretty much all open source or free. They're mostly suited to flowcharting but there's nothing stopping you doing a room layout with them.

LibreOffice Draw (LibreOffice is an open source equivalent of Microsoft Office)
Dia
LucidCharts (not free but very cheap)
draw.io (web based awesomeness )
Pencil (I've used this to mock up GUIs before and it's very nice)
yEd (I've used this for process diagrams before and it's also very good)

MarcLister · 1 Feb 2015 at 14:04

lsg1r said:
'student' version of visio 2013 professional is £45. Ordered from home too, no special requirements iirc. Project is only like £100 too.

I've bought 2010 version of office, project and visio from them via my Mum (hlta in a school), it says students but it covers staff/faculty as well. I needed it for work and didn't fancy paying full price when I had someone who could get it cheaper due to working at a school

In regards to fee options... openoffice draw or diagramly should cover your needs

I'll contact our software buyer tomorrow; should be able to beat £45.

Would at least save the VAT on the £45.

kitkat9933 said:
Sketchup is really good for this and looks good. This is what I did for our school in https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/em...d-4f5a-94a1-dde2ac8323d8&width=400&height=300

Slight overkill for what I want.

That looks amazing though. I believe the building plans have mapped the entire school with each room's size and dimensions recorded so I might see if I can get a copy of that and use it to create a school layout map that's actually to scale!

Pho said:
How about some of these? They're pretty much all open source or free. They're mostly suited to flowcharting but there's nothing stopping you doing a room layout with them.

LibreOffice Draw (LibreOffice is an open source equivalent of Microsoft Office)

Dia

LucidCharts (not free but very cheap)

draw.io (web based awesomeness )

Pencil (I've used this to mock up GUIs before and it's very nice)

yEd (I've used this for process diagrams before and it's also very good)

Some fantastic links there.

Already knew about draw.io, found it online before I posted here. It looked good but considering I'd be doing these maps once a year, even the $3.33 a month looked a bit steep. I'd rather use Visio and pay for that on a one-off basis if I can get work to pay for it.

I've used LibreOffice before and have installed it on a colleague's laptop; I'll take another look at it. Apparently the very latest update has massively improved its look and appearance; which was a big weakness of previous versions.

namnoc · 1 Feb 2015 at 17:59

Why not go to the extreme and use Autodesk Inventor?

It may be a little OTT, but it is completely free for schools

MarcLister · 1 Feb 2015 at 18:14

namnoc said:
Why not go to the extreme and use Autodesk Inventor?

It may be a little OTT, but it is completely free for schools

Sounds interesting. I'm on the Autodesk site now having a look. I'll create an account later and see what I have to do to get a licence for work. It seems I can also get a licence for Autodesk for my personal PC. http://knowledge.autodesk.com/custo...free individual licenses to Autodesk software

skaif · 1 Feb 2015 at 21:47

Hey there Marc! I see your based in LU7! Which school would you be in? Don't want to hijack the thread but I am also in education and would be good to get your thoughts on network implementation, roll out and configuration. Having some issues at my place that could use some impartial advice.

kitkat9933 · 1 Feb 2015 at 22:23

skaif said:
Hey there Marc! I see your based in LU7! Which school would you be in? Don't want to hijack the thread but I am also in education and would be good to get your thoughts on network implementation, roll out and configuration. Having some issues at my place that could use some impartial advice.

I'm in the education sector if you need a hand

MarcLister · 1 Feb 2015 at 22:41

skaif said:
Hey there Marc! I see your based in LU7! Which school would you be in? Don't want to hijack the thread but I am also in education and would be good to get your thoughts on network implementation, roll out and configuration. Having some issues at my place that could use some impartial advice.

A school in HA3. That's Harrow, London!

Get me on trust email if you want?

Quartz · 1 Feb 2015 at 23:13

MarcLister said:
I know that Visio would be good for this but we wouldn't have the money for this.

You're a school. The last time I checked, Microsoft would sell you a license for a tenner or so. Microsoft have a special licencing programme for schools and charities.

See http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/schools/software-licensing/types-of-educational-licence/