Density vs. Cisco Spaces: choosing the measurement behind workplace analytics

Start with Density when you want to choose purpose-built occupancy sensors around a workplace decision, then examine room, floor and building use in Atlas. Waffle, Open Area and Entry provide different measurements, so the team can define what each space must report before planning the rollout.

Cisco Spaces brings workplace applications to supported networking, collaboration and sensor infrastructure. If your organization already operates Cisco equipment, that is a concrete reason to evaluate it. The buying question is which parts of that infrastructure can supply the measurement your workplace team needs.

Put real spaces in each proposal

Choose a desk neighborhood, a small meeting room and a building entrance. Give each a specific job: count people within the neighborhood, distinguish individual and group room use, or measure entrances and exits.

With Density, match that job to the sensor:

• Open Area: counts within larger office areas, with coverage planned for the intended spaces.
• Waffle: radar-based zero, one, two or three-plus categories for small spaces. Keep three-plus as a category when evaluating group use.
• Entry: directional doorway counts used to calculate occupancy across a covered boundary.

Density's workplace sensor guidance explains these measurement choices. Its Atlas platform connects occupancy evidence to building and floor analysis.

For Cisco Spaces, name the source for each space rather than calling the whole proposal Wi-Fi analytics. Cisco's Space Utilization guide lists multiple sources, including Wi-Fi, collaboration devices and supported occupancy sensors. Its Space Manager guide describes device-associated people count, presence and environmental telemetry on maps. Capabilities depend on the selected devices and configuration. A presence reading answers whether someone is there; it does not, by itself, supply a headcount.

Check what an existing network actually supplies

Cisco's setup FAQ says occupancy estimates can use network clients, Webex devices and supported sensors. Available identity and device context can reduce duplicate counts when a person carries several devices. That is more than treating every device as a person, but it still requires a defined deployment and interpretation.

Have the Cisco proposal identify the enabled data sources, relevant network configuration, map quality and license entitlement. The Space Utilization guide lists prerequisites for Digital Maps Pro, defined meeting rooms and the applicable network or Webex integration. An existing access point does not, by itself, establish that every desired room report is ready.

For Density, review the physical coverage, power and network requirements of the proposed sensors. A measurement deployment has its own setup work. Compare that complete scope with the Cisco configuration your team would actually enable, rather than comparing one supplier's complete rollout with the other's existing equipment alone.

Ask for the same building comparison

Bring both suppliers a real question, such as whether two floors need the same mix of desks and collaboration spaces. Ask for the included spaces, local operating hours, capacity assumptions and missing observations to remain visible in the chart or export.

Then trace one result back to its input. Is the report based on counts, presence, network-derived estimates or a combination? What does the system do when the expected source is unavailable? Keep those answers beside the comparison so a change in data coverage does not look like a change in office use.

Density's bulk export documentation describes space, floor and building identifiers, configured capacity and local timestamps. Those fields give an analyst a concrete starting point for checking the selected locations and periods.

Privacy review should follow the proposed data path. Inspect the information each sensor or network source produces and what reaches the reporting application. Cisco Spaces supports multiple source types; review the actual selection instead of assigning one privacy description to every deployment.

Choose the path your team can operate

Density offers a direct starting point for a workplace team that wants defined physical measurements and an occupancy analysis around its space decisions. Cisco Spaces warrants a concrete demonstration where the organization wants to build those applications on its supported Cisco infrastructure.

Bring Density your floor plans, required outputs and the report you need to reproduce. Book a demo, or email sales@density.io.

Use the building-comparison guide to align the periods and the occupancy API guide to review live and historical integration behavior.

Browse occupancy guides and sensor comparisons · Read the plain-text version