By Ben Smeland, Senior Software Engineer, Lucas Systems
When I begin engineering discussions with warehouse teams, I usually ask for a map of their facility. Almost every time, I’m handed a CAD drawing. It’s digital. It’s detailed. And for operational analysis, it’s usually the wrong tool.
CAD drawings are designed to show how a building is constructed, not how work gets done inside it. They’re great for architects and facility planners, but they fall short when the goal is to improve travel paths, reducing congestion, or optimizing labor. In practice, using a CAD drawing to improve warehouse operations is a bit like using a hammer to drive a screw. It works, but it’s inefficient and limits what you can accomplish.
What operations teams actually need is a process-aware digital map of the warehouse: one that reflects aisles, bays, travel rules, staging areas, and how people, equipment, and inventory move through the space every day.
That’s the “why.” Most operators already understand it. The more important question is: how do you actually get one?
What Makes a Warehouse Digital Map Different?
A warehouse-focused digital map is far more than a visual depiction of racks and aisles. It is a spatial model intentionally built to support day-to-day operational decision-making. Unlike static CAD drawings, which capture how a facility is constructed, this type of digital map reflects how the warehouse actually functions. It incorporates the real travel paths workers take, accounts for one-way aisles and physical choke points, and defines operational zones that influence how work is assigned and executed. Just as importantly, it links those physical locations to live and historical operational data: orders, tasks, product velocity, and labor activity, so performance can be understood in the context of space, not just spreadsheets.
When these elements are connected, the map becomes a powerful foundation for analytics, simulation, and optimization rather than simple documentation. Managers can visualize inefficiencies, test changes virtually, and understand the downstream impact of decisions before making them on the floor. This capability is often referred to as a digital twin, but the terminology is less important than the outcome: a virtual representation of the warehouse that mirrors reality closely enough to be analyzed, stress-tested, and continuously refined without disrupting active operations.
The Real Question: Why Don’t More Warehouses Have One?
If digital mapping delivers so much value, it’s fair to ask why it isn’t already standard practice in every warehouse. The reality is that building a truly useful digital warehouse map is not a simple or purely technical exercise. It depends on having clean, consistent location data that accurately reflects how inventory is stored and accessed, as well as clear definitions of how work actually flows through the building day to day. Beyond data, it requires software that understands warehouse processes like picking, replenishment, staging, and travel, not just the physical geometry of racks and aisles. Just as importantly, it demands collaboration across operations, engineering, and IT to ensure the map reflects both physical reality and operational intent. Most warehouses already possess parts of this foundation, but those pieces are often scattered across systems and teams, rarely brought together in a way that creates a cohesive, actionable digital model.
How to Get Started with Digital Mapping
Start with Operational Reality, Not Perfect Data
Getting started with digital mapping begins with a shift in mindset. One of the most common mistakes warehouse teams make is waiting for perfect drawings or perfectly cleansed data before taking the first step. In reality, millimeter-level precision isn’t required to unlock meaningful value. What matters is capturing operational reality: an accurate aisle structure, correctly defined pick, reserve, staging, and shipping locations, and the real travel constraints that shape daily work, such as one-way aisles, restricted zones, or shared equipment areas. The objective is functional accuracy. Understanding how the warehouse behaves, not architectural perfection.
Define How Work Actually Moves
Equally important is clearly defining how work actually moves through the building. Before selecting tools or technologies, teams should document how pickers enter and exit different zones, where congestion routinely builds, how replenishment activity intersects with picking, and which areas of the facility change frequently versus those that remain stable. This operational context is what transforms a digital map from a static reference into a true decision-support tool, allowing leaders to see cause and effect rather than isolated data points.
Use Software Built for Warehouse Processes
Choosing the right software is another critical step. General-purpose mapping tools and CAD systems tend to fall short because they focus on geometry rather than execution. Warehouse digital maps are most effective when they are created and maintained within systems designed for warehouse processes, such as warehouse optimization platforms, execution-layer or WES solutions, or advanced labor management and orchestration systems. These platforms understand tasks, orders, priorities, and travel logic, enabling the map to reflect how work is assigned and performed, not just how the facility looks.
Expect Iteration, Not a One-Time Project
It’s also important to approach digital mapping as an evolving capability rather than a one-time project. Initial maps can often be built in a matter of weeks, especially when leveraging existing layouts, but the long-term value comes from keeping the map current. As new pick faces are added, staging areas shift, aisle rules change, or layouts are reconfigured, the digital map must evolve alongside the operation. The most effective digital maps are living assets that adapt as the warehouse changes, rather than static deliverables that quickly become outdated.
Skills Required: Less CAD, More Operations Insight
Maintaining these maps doesn’t require deep CAD expertise. In fact, the skill set is often more operational than technical. A strong understanding of warehouse workflows, comfort working with location data, and basic system configuration skills are typically far more valuable than traditional design experience. In many organizations, operations engineers or knowledgeable super-users are better positioned to own and maintain digital mapping than facility designers who are removed from day-to-day execution.
What Digital Mapping Enables
Once a process-aware digital map is in place, a wide range of optimization opportunities become practical and scalable.
Travel paths can be optimized to reduce unnecessary walking and backtracking,
Orders can be prioritized in real time based on physical location and deadlines, and
Slotting decisions can be guided by visual heatmaps that reveal product velocity and congestion patterns.
Task assignments can adapt dynamically to avoid bottlenecks,
New associates can be onboarded faster using guided workflows that mirror the actual facility, and tasks such as picking, replenishment, and drop-offs can be intelligently interleaved along a single route.
More advanced operations build on this foundation with machine learning, enabling continuous “what-if” analysis and adaptive optimization as demand patterns, labor availability, and operational constraints evolve.
Digital mapping isn’t valuable because it looks impressive. It’s valuable because it turns warehouse operations from reactive guesswork into spatially informed decision-making.
The real breakthrough isn’t having a map, it’s having one that understands how your warehouse actually works, and can evolve as your operation does. When that foundation is in place, optimization stops being a series of isolated projects and becomes an ongoing capability.
That’s the difference between knowing your warehouse and truly being able to improve it.
Ben Smeland serves as a Senior Software Development Engineer with Lucas Systems, leveraging more than 20 years of software development experience to challenge and innovate against software architectures in order to promote clarity, performance and sustainability.
With experience as a full-stack developer, software architect, and project manager, Ben has served in almost every capacity in the software industry, engaging with internal teams and customers to bring inventive, sustainable solutions to complicated business problems
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