Final Stages of Product Convergence Deliver Benefits of Cumulative Innovations for Roadway Design
Philadelphia – Be Together: The Bentley User Conference – May 16, 2012 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, today introduced at this gathering of infrastructure professionals from around the world, the shared OpenRoads information modeling functionality in its InRoads, GEOPAK, and MXROAD V8i (SELECTseries 3) products for roadway design. The common code foundation across them represents the final stages in the evolutionary convergence of functional innovations among all three products – an evolution that began with the introduction of Roadway Designer. Users of any or all of these products can now benefit from shared innovations that increase the potential of information modeling in road design, construction, and operations. The new functionality advances what’s possible in civil design through immersive modeling, design-time visualization, design intent capture and persistence, hypermodeling, information mobility, and construction-driven engineering. Moreover, because Bentley has conscientiously incorporated these capabilities within each of the existing product lines to preserve user equity in standards, deliverables, and legacy data, all civil users are now enabled to advance rapidly.
Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley said, “We have carefully enabled the users of InRoads, GEOPAK, and/or MXROAD to adopt and benefit from OpenRoads information modeling in a continuous and nondisruptive manner. This powerful new functionality is here in the SELECTseries 3 releases of these products, and all users will gain by previewing them and upgrading as soon as possible.”
The just-released McGraw-Hill Construction SmartMarket Report “The Business Value of BIM for Infrastructure” emphasizes the strong potential of information modeling for roadway and bridge infrastructure. According to the report, the percentage of firms expected to reach information modeling usage for the majority of their work on these projects will rise to 56 percent in 2013 (from 20 percent in 2009 and 35 percent in 2011). A key reason for this increasing uptake, states the report, is that “The project-related benefits of model-based design and construction accrue directly to owners and are compelling.” To accelerate these gains, delegates from more than 30 transportation agencies are attending Bentley’s Be Together conference this week to hear about the latest advances in information modeling. For consulting firms doing work for multiple departments of transportation, the OpenRoads common functionality is just as compelling because it will enable them to maximize return on talent through work sharing to the best needs of all clients.
Commenting on the benefits of information modeling, Steve Meyer, information technology specialist, Engineering Applications, Iowa Department of Transportation, said, “We have been using Corridor Modeler (Roadway Designer) for a number of years. 3D design has improved our ability to produce more accurate plans with less field changes because we can look at our design and find problem areas before they are constructed. With SELECTseries 3 using intelligent elements that can update on the fly, we see huge advantages. Intelligent elements will allow us to establish an interrelational design that maintains our design intent while giving us the ability to make changes that are immediately apparent, both visually and geometrically.”
Immersive Modeling and Design-Time Visualization
The OpenRoads immersive modeling functionality provides design-time visualization, giving engineers and designers the ability to view their designs interactively as rendered on-demand models in the design software environment – enabling government agencies, consultants, and operators to make better design, construction, operations, and maintenance decisions. Immersive modeling is supported by the software’s ability to capture and persist design. It does this by self-documenting design decisions and changes, and then reacting to and anticipating such changes as they relate to design intent. As a result, the engineer or designer is always in control of the design process and no changes or relationships are ever “hidden.”
Hypermodeling
Hypermodels present information directly within the 3D context, which serves as a “spatial index” for immersive interaction with content of any type, including 2D drawings, raster images, photos and videos, point clouds, scalable terrain models, hyperlinks, survey data, and design data. The OpenRoads hypermodeling functionality uniquely enables civil design information to remain continuously vital throughout the lifecycle of construction and operations, as a critical success factor for design-build and especially public-private partnership (P3) projects.
Information Mobility
The information mobility facilitated by OpenRoads shares architectural, engineering, construction, operations (AECO), and geospatial information across the infrastructure lifecycle and project disciplines. Users and work processes can readily exchange information in the appropriate format with the required level of precision.
OpenRoads provides this functionality through its support of i-models (containers for open infrastructure information exchange that maintain the provenance of their content), allowing teams to analyze projects virtually, for instance to detect and resolve clashes and simulate project schedules. Users can augment data by registering comments in i-models and can produce 2D and 3D PDFs for consumption by a wider audience. OpenRoads and i-models make information modeling pay off through “hands-on” reuse in field construction and asset management, instead of truncating benefits at “hand-off” and “hand-over”.
Construction-Driven Engineering
Construction-driven engineering is an objective, driven by project economics, that is facilitated by OpenRoads functionality. With information-rich 3D modeling, design-time visualization, and information mobility secured by ProjectWise, engineers and constructors can stay in sync, assuring that design models become and remain sufficiently complete, and that quantities are always accurate. OpenRoads functionality accordingly supports machine-guided construction and virtual inspection.
Ron Gant, Bentley global marketing director, said, “Construction-driven engineering is vital for P3 projects – to make the ‘hand-off’ between design and build, and ‘hand-over’ to operations ‘hands-on,’ reducing project risk and maximizing return. The OpenRoads common foundation in our SELECTseries 3 roadway products facilitates this information mobility that design/build civil projects demand.”
OpenRoads Functionality Available in Technology Previews
At the Be Together conference this week, Bentley is inviting the hundreds of delegates from transportation agencies and their consultants to participate in test drives of OpenRoads functionality in workshops, and (with all Bentley SELECT subscribers) in technology preview implementations within their respective organizations upon returning home. For details, go to Bentley Civil V8i (SELECTseries 3) technology preview at www.bentley.com/Beta.
For additional information about Bentley’s V8i (SELECTseries 3) products for roadway design – featuring OpenRoads functionality – visit http://www.bentley.com/Civil.
About Be Together: The Bentley User Conference
Be Together: The Bentley User Conference, taking place this week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, enab
les the architects, engineers, constructors, geospatial and operations professionals, and CAD managers who regularly exchange ideas virtually on the Be Communities professional networking site to connect, communicate, and learn from each other in person. In addition, guided by Bentley product experts, attendees acquire knowledge crucial to the adoption of information-modeling best practices as they earn Bentley Institute Learning Units to maximize return on time invested in professional development. The conference hosts 12 tracks: Bentley Civil, Bridge, Building, Communications, Engineering Information Management (including ProjectWise and AssetWise), Geospatial, Geotechnical, MicroStation, Plant, Structural, Utilities, and Water. For additional information about the conference, visit www.bentley.com/BeTogether.
About Bentley Systems, Incorporated
Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Bentley’s mission is to empower its users to leverage information modeling through integrated projects for high-performing intelligent infrastructure. Its solutions encompass the MicroStation platform for infrastructure design and modeling, the ProjectWise platform for infrastructure project team collaboration and work sharing, and the AssetWise platform for infrastructure asset operations – all supporting a broad portfolio of interoperable applications and complemented by worldwide professional services. Founded in 1984, Bentley has grown to nearly 3,000 colleagues in more than 45 countries and over $500 million in annual revenues. Since 2003, the company has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions. Additional information about Bentley is available at www.bentley.com and in Bentley’s annual report. For Bentley news as it happens, subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, access Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure publications. To access a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit Be Communities. To download the Bentley Infrastructure 500 Top Owners ranking, a unique global compendium of the top public- and private-sector owners of infrastructure based on the value of their cumulative infrastructure investments, visit www.bentley.com/500.