How to make a fire evacuation map for a school or office in one day
Take the architect's floor plan, trace the rooms and corridors, mark every exit, draw the primary and secondary escape routes to the assembly point, place ISO 7010 symbols for extinguishers, alarms and first aid, add a legend and title block, then produce one map per corridor with "You are here" and the map rotated to that corridor. With map software this takes an hour per floor; by hand it takes days.
Step 1: get the base drawing
Ask facilities for the architectural floor plan as a PDF or image. If none exists, a clean sketch of walls, doors and room names is enough; accuracy of shape matters less than accuracy of exits and routes.
Step 2: rooms, exits, routes
Trace each room and label it with its name or number and a colour by category (classrooms, offices, plant rooms). Mark every exit door. Draw the primary route from each area to the nearest exit and a secondary route in case the first is blocked, then continue both to the assembly point outside.
Step 3: symbols and legend
Use ISO 7010 symbols only: E001 and E002 for exits, E007 assembly point, F001 extinguisher, F005 alarm call point, E003 first aid. Every symbol on the sheet appears in the legend. Add the title block: building, floor, date, revision, prepared by.
Step 4: one map per corridor
Stand at each place a map will hang. Rotate the plan so the corridor ahead is "up", add the "You are here" marker, check the route reads naturally. Print at A3 for walls and A4 for handouts.
Step 5: keep it current
Any room change, new door or moved extinguisher means a new revision. Keep the master drawing and regenerate the maps; never edit printed copies by hand.
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