Zone map labels, color, and visibility

Three settings on a zone control how it appears on the floor map in the Workplace app: the Map label, the Zone Color, and the transparency of that color. Together they let you show a zone as a clearly bounded area, as a label with no boundary at all, or as a label that changes depending on the day of the week.

All three settings affect the Workplace app only. Everywhere else in Workplace Manager, including FlowAnalytics, the zone is identified by its Name.

To reach these settings, select Company and then Zones in the sidebar, and select the zone you want to change. For creating zones and setting their place in the structure, see Create a zone.

Zone fills and borders only appear on a floor where the zone layer is enabled. If a zone is not showing on the map at all, check the floor first. See Enable or disable zone layers on a floor.

The map label

Every zone is marked on the floor map with a small label. The Map label setting controls what that label says. There are two options: Zone name and Per weekday.

Show the same label every day

Select Zone name to show the zone's Name on the map every day. The text below the setting confirms which name will be used. This suits permanent areas whose purpose does not change, such as a reception, a café area, or a wellness room.

Show a different label per weekday

Select Per weekday to vary the label by day. A field appears for each day from Mon to Sun. Enter the text you want employees to see on that day.

Leave a day blank to fall back to the zone name. A zone named Library area with Thu set to Finance and Fri set to Bridges shows Finance on Thursday, Bridges on Friday, and Library area on every day left blank.

Weekday labels are useful when the same physical area serves a different purpose through the week, for example:

• A department rotation, where a particular team is expected in that area on a particular day.
• A recurring activity, such as a customer hangout on Fridays or a casual area at the weekend.

How the map label appears in the Workplace app

The label follows the date the employee is viewing, not the current date. If an employee looks at the floor map for next Friday, they see the Friday label. Moving to the next day changes the labels on the map without any action from the admin.

The map label changes only what employees see on the map in the Workplace app. It has no effect anywhere else. The zone's Name is what appears throughout Workplace Manager, including in the zone list, in filters, and in FlowAnalytics, so a zone labeled Finance on Thursdays is still reported as Library area.

Zone color

The Zone Color control sets the fill color of the zone on the map in the Workplace app. Pick a color from the gradient and the hue bar below it, or enter values directly in the R, G, and B fields. Select Clear to remove the color you have set.

Zone colors are shown in the Workplace app only. They do not appear in the map editor or on room and kiosk displays.

Color is worth using deliberately rather than decoratively. Employees read the map quickly, so a small number of consistent colors across a floor is easier to interpret than a different color for every zone. Common approaches are one color per zone purpose, such as quiet areas in one color and collaboration areas in another, or one color per department.

Zone visibility

The A% field next to the color values sets how opaque the fill is, and with it how visible the zone boundary is on the map:

• A high A% value gives a strong fill, so the zone reads as a distinct area with clear edges.
• A low A% value tints the area lightly and lets the floor plan and the assets on it show through.
• A% set to 0 makes the zone fully transparent. Only the map label remains visible. The zone still exists and still works as a filter, but no boundary is drawn on the map.

When to hide the zone boundary

A fully transparent zone is useful when the zone is a working tool for the admin rather than something employees need to see the edges of. Department zones are the common case. The zone gives you a named area to filter on in FlowAnalytics and a helpful label on the map, but drawing a visible boundary around each department suggests that the space belongs to that team and that other people should not cross into it. Many companies would rather not create that impression in an office designed for flexible working.

Setting A% to 0 keeps the map label and the analytics grouping, and removes the boundary.

Publish your changes

Edits to a zone are recorded in your change log rather than applied straight away, so employees do not see them in the Workplace app right away. To make them live, select Close, then select Changes at the top of the page and select Publish.

The change log works the same way throughout Workplace Manager.