Space Explorer Web App

OVERVIEW

The Space Explorer Web App allows flexible access with SSO login (via Webex, Microsoft, and Google Login - more details below) to authenticate end users. The Web App is complementary to the Space Explorer Kiosk app meant to be displayed on a lobby display. In addition to room occupancy and calendar status, the Space Explorer Web App adds Smart Desking functionality to Cisco Spaces workplace experience applications. It is a flexible workspace solution that allows employees to reserve dynamically allocated desks (“Hot Desks”) instead of having assigned seating. It is a key part of hybrid work models and is commonly managed through IoT, AI, and cloud-based platforms.

SUPPORT AND ONBOARDING

Please follow the link below to find out about the different ways to get support for Cisco Spaces.

Support Info Link

PREREQUISITES

This runbook should only be used as a follow on from the Spaces OS Runbook. Please refer to that document before progressing here.

Spaces Infrastructure Readiness

Licensing Requirements

At minimum Spaces ADVANTAGE (ACT or UNLIMITED) is required for room view and Hold button in Space Explorer Web App.

For desk booking, individual Workstations/Desk Spaces are NOT licensed, but:

• Sufficient licensing for mapped square footage is required.

• Webex Desk & Phone Series devices need at minimum Spaces ADVANTAGE (ACT or UNLIMITED) in a current production environment before GA. (roadmap capability – Phase 2 EFT in November 2025 – signup here: https://spaces.cisco.com/cisco-spaces-beta/ )

• SPACES-PRM (Spaces Premier for Wireless) license is required to access the Space Explorer Web App for desk booking.

Mapping & Desk Identification

AI Digital Map Pro (3D Rich Map) Setup:

• Desk IDs must be included in a CAD file to create a Workstation space type.

• CAD files are processed into Digital Maps Pro (must be Published under Setup > Locations & Maps > Digital Maps)

• Workstation space types auto-added to Space Manager > Manage Desks (requires a Cisco Spaces PM enabling a feature flag).

• Workstations must be added to bookable inventory from Space Manager > Manage Desks

Desk Management in Space Manager

Hot Desk Setup:

• Admins can designate "hot desks" for booking in Space Manager (see above).

• Workstations marked as hot desks will be assigned a Cisco Spaces proprietary calendar:

  • Users can book for the morning, afternoon, or full day and cancel their booking

  • Users can book in-advance up to 14 days (current day local time to the building + 14 days … if currently looking at Today/Tuesday, two Tuesdays in advance are also bookable) – Desk & Phone Series devices do not support book in-advance functionality outside of the current day

  • Only one booking per user per day (morning, afternoon, or full day)

RoomOS & PhoneOS Integration

After assigning a supported RoomOS or PhoneOS device Workspace to a bookable hot desk under Space Manager > Manage Desks, the device can be remotely booked from the Space Explorer Web App.

When integrating with Cisco Desk or Phone Series devices, only current day bookings are allowed.

Device Model Support:

• RoomOS: Desk Series (Desk Pro, Desk, Desk Mini)

• PhoneOS: 9800 Series (9841, 9851, 9861, 9871 … not 9811) and 8875 (roadmap)

In Webex Control Hub:

• (required) A desk device’s Workspace must be set to the “Desk” space type

• (optional) Under Workspaces, click on a Workspace row, open Scheduling tab, check the box next to Hot desk sign in.

• (optional) RoomOS devices: add Hybrid Calendar for remote booking via Outlook/Google Calendar.

Cisco Spaces PWA on Standalone Cisco Navigator

A Standalone Cisco Wall Navigator (w/ LED recommended)

Desks configured with the Cisco Spaces PWA for desk booking support book in-advance functionality.

Single Sign On (SSO) Readiness

End-User SSO Login (not via CCI)

Users log in using:

• Webex Login

• Microsoft 365 Login

• Google Login

Enables seamless authentication for employees using existing SSO login flow.

Desk Booking Process

Booking via Space Explorer Web App

• Users login via SSO (Webex, Microsoft 365, or Google)

• They visually scan the digital map for available desks

• They click on a desk/space

• They click “Book This Desk” to book it instantly

• (Optional) With supported RoomOS or PhoneOS device in hot desking Scheduling mode, scan the on-screen QR code to login, personalize it, and sync logged in status (occupied / red) to Space Explorer Web App.

Firewall / Proxy Readiness

Ports: 443 for all domains / endpoints listed below

IMPLEMENTATION

Setup > Location & Maps > Digital Maps

1. Open the Cisco Spaces dashboard

2. Navigate to Setup > Locations & Maps > Digital Maps > View/Edit

3. Check Workstations and make sure all desk names/IDs are present and unique

4. If any bookable desks/private offices are not clickable and editable, then a new CAD file with desk IDs may be needed.

Space Experience Setup - Adding Locations

1. Open the Cisco Spaces dashboard

2. Navigate to Space Experience app

3. Go to Devices

4. Go to Non-Webex Devices

5. Click Add Signage (blue button in top left)

6. Expand each row of the Location Hierarchy until you find the Location/Building you want to add to the Space Explorer web app

7. Click the radio button on the right side of the Location/Building row - green arrow in the screenshot below

8. Click Next (blue button in bottom right)

9. Expand “Can't see the activation code?”

10. Copy the URL and paste into an Incognito Browser Window

11. Look for and memorize the 4-digit code that loads on the page

12. Type the 4-digit code under Activation code

13. Type a name under Name your signage

14. Click Save (blue button in bottom right)

15. On the Space Experience > Devices > Non-Webex Devices list view, click Configure on the signage just created

16. Go through the configuration steps as normal (this won’t be deployed on a Kiosk, it is only to create a token on the backend)

Space Manager Setup - Adding Bookable Desks

1. Open the Cisco Spaces dashboard

2. Navigate to Space Manager app

3. Go to the Manage Desks (if you do not see this page, work with a Spaces PM to enable the feature flag)

4. Choose a Location and Floor from the dropdowns at the top-center of the page

5. Click on Add Hot Desks and the list of all Desks/Workstations from the Digital Maps Editor will appear along with the Map on the right-hand side.

6. Select the Workstation ID check boxes you want to add as bookable desks, then click on the Add Hot Desks button in the bottom right. The desk space will be highlighted in a light blue box on the map panel.

Tip: type text in the “Search desks” field to filter desks in the list or to find neighborhoods of desks by name. Typical office space CAD files use an alphanumeric grid pattern to name Workstations.

7. Once you have added Hot Desks, the List of all selected Hot Desks should appear under the Manage Desks view. In the map panel, Hot Desks are highlighted in a 3D magenta box.

Device Setup

PhoneOS

In Webex Control Hub:

• (required) Under Workspaces, click on a Wokrspace row, click on Actions > Edit menu, under Type choose the Desk option.

• (optional) Under Workspaces, click on a Workspace row, open Scheduling tab, check the box next to Hot desk sign in.

RoomOS

In Webex Control Hub:

• (required) Under Workspaces, click on a Wokrspace row, click on Actions > Edit menu, under Type choose the Desk option.

• (optional) Under Workspaces, click on a Workspace row, open Scheduling tab, check the box next to Hot desk sign in.

• (optional) Add Hybrid Calendar for remote booking via Outlook/Google Calendar.

Standalone Cisco Navigator PWA

Note: while in EFT/Beta testing, this process is handled by the Cisco Spaces product management team and requires manual setup until automated through Cisco Spaces dashboard > Space Manager > Manage Desks.

In Webex Control Hub:

• Under Workspaces, click on a Workspace row

• Click on the Standalone Navigator in the Devices section

• Click on Navigator persistent web app

• Under URL field, paste the URL with token parameter - ⚠️ Note: provided by the Cisco Spaces PM team ⚠️

• Check the box next to Allow JSXAPI access on this device.

• Click Save (bottom right)

Desk Booking Feature Matrix

Tenant-to-Domain Mapping

Spaces PM team or Dev team needs to add a Tenant-to-domain mapping for new customers in our system to support Authorization required for desk booking. This requirement is temporary until the self-serve admin interface is available in the Space Experience app. 

Data Required from Customer

IT Admin Consent

Webex Login - Admin Permissions

For Webex Login, no admin consent is required.

Google Login - Admin Permissions

For Google Login, no admin consent is required.

Microsoft 365 Login - Admin First Time

For Microsoft Login, admin consent may be required.

Optional - background and details on Admin Consent: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/admin-consent-workflow-overview

1. Go to https://ciscospaces.app and click Login in with Microsoft button, login with your work email, and accept permissions (skip if at least one end user has already logged in and accepted permissions)

2. Your Microsoft Entra admin goes to Microsoft Entra Admin Center (https://entra.microsoft.com)

3. Click on Enterprise apps on the left menu

4. Search for Space Explorer

5. Open the page under Security > Permissions

6. See current Admin consent (tab) and User consent (tab) permissions granted

7. Optional: click on Grant admin consent for Cisco Systems, Inc (blue button) to grant permissions for all users (users will not see permissions consent during Microsoft Login flow)

Microsoft Graph Permissions

End User Experience

Login

Webex Login

1. Click on Webex Login option

2. Enter email address and the follow prompts to complete your organization’s SSO flow

3. Accept permissions

Microsoft Login

1. Click on Microsoft Login option

2. Enter email address and the follow prompts to complete your organization’s SSO flow

Google Login

1. Click on Google Login option

2. Enter email address and the follow prompts to complete your organization’s SSO flow

3. Click on Continue to access Space Explorer

Locations

Desktop

Mobile

Floor View - Rooms & Desks

Desktop

Mobile

Devices

PhoneOS

RoomOS

CAVEATS AND TIPS

1. When using Webex, Microsoft, and Google for SSO end user login, and your organization uses Mobile Device Management (MDM), ensure SSO will be able to authenticate users on mobile devices.

2. In case of Using a MDM solution for devices

   Whitelist the Space Explorer Web App or associated URLs (ex. ciscospaces.app)
   Allow required domains used for SSO login (ex. microsoftonline.com, accounts.google.com, webex.com).
   Permit browser-based authentication and app access in the MDM configuration profile.
   Confirm that the user devices can:

   • Reach required endpoints over HTTPS (port 443).

   • Launch the Space Explorer Web App without restrictions from corporate firewalls or MDM policy.

   • Re-test access after applying policy updates.

3. Save Space Explorer Web App as a home screen bookmark (i.e. PWA) on iOS and Android for easy access

4. Location permissions on the Location list view are optional. The Space Explorer Web App uses location to calculate distance to each building and sorts them by closest to furthest. Otherwise, the list is in alphanumerical order.

Outlines for Workstation types in the CAD file produce easily identifiable spaces.

Workstation/Desk IDs (or names) must be included in the CAD file layers.

7. Workstation furniture is highly recommended

8. No outlines and IDs/names will result in no editable workstations in the Digital Map Editor. They cannot be turned into bookable desks.

REFERENCES

• https://runbooks.ciscospaces.io/docs/digital-map-pro-and-cad-dwg-pdf-best-practices

• Optional: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/admin-consent-workflow-overview#how-the-admin-consent-workflow-works