Bentley YII2018 Press Release Links

LONDON, U.K. – The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference – 15 October 2018 – Bentley Systems Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of Agency9, based in Stockholm. Agency9 has already provided nearly half of Sweden’s larger municipalities with city-scale digital twin cloud services for city planning and related web-based 3D visualization.

Since 2012, Agency9 has taken advantage of reality meshes created by Bentley’s ContextCapture reality modeling software as the digital context for visualizing urban infrastructure assets represented in GIS data, terrain surveys, and BIM models. Bentley’s new iTwin™ cloud services, introduced at the conference, add digital alignment and change synchronization for infrastructure engineering digital twins, and will enable OpenCities Planner (formerly Agency9 CityPlanner)to uniquely serve urban planning requirements at fuller levels of detail.

Phil Christensen, Bentley’s senior vice president, reality modeling said, “Our many city users globally have been asking for the useful capabilities which Agency9 has successfully implemented throughout Sweden, to take further advantage of their reality modeling programs. In fact, when we combine Bentley ContextCapture’s 3D surveying advancements (based on hybrid aerial, UAV, and ground-based imagery) with our Connected Data Environment (CDE) technologies for geospatial-to-BIM integration, we make city-scale digital twins as a cloud service broadly accessible. Ultimately synchronizing reality and ‘virtuality,’ OpenCities Planner offers the perfect web solution to enable every city in going digital.”

Håkan Engman, CEO of Agency9, said, “Now that we’re part of Bentley, we’re confident about achieving the full global potential of Agency9’s innovations. My colleagues and I, and our forward-thinking users in the Nordics, have been noted for pushing the envelope of geospatial integration and visual performance to new levels of detail. Now, as contributors toward unique city-scale digital twin cloud services from Bentley, we can foresee the realization of our users’ vision to advance from urban planning to improving cities’ asset performance.”

By Raymond Gregory Tribdino

LONDON--CONSTRUCTIONEERING is the digitalization of actual construction processes. For Bentley Systems, leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, it is the way towards building efficiently and at scale. 

Constructioneering may be the way to hasten, with quality and efficiency, the development of the country’s infrastructure projects under the current Build! Build! Build! Program.

“Certainly any infrastructure project in any location can and will benefit from the advances provided by our systems. In China, they are planning whole cities using many of the programs that Bentley Systems offers.  In many countries in Europe, they use our systems to create city planning models and flood control simulations. These are really good examples of the new developments we have had in the constructioneering workflow,” Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems said in a quick interview during the Bentley Year in Infrastructure Conference 2018 (YII) in London.

He pointed out that in the digitalization of infrastructure, the processes of planning are made more visual, more convincing to the stakeholders. To the architects and civil engineers Bentley Systems has made is possible to simulate everything from earthquake resistance, building workflow and timelines, traffic movement and flow management and even people movement. 

Topcon Positioning Group, a world leader in positioning technology for the survey and construction industries and Bentley Systems collaborated for the establishment of the Constructioneering Academy. 

“The Constructioneering Academies are filled with a mix of professionals from companies, governmental agencies and organizations who are involved in putting important infrastructure projects into motion and seeing them through to completion. The uniqueness of the dialogue taking place among participants, representing more than 80 organizations in the first year, cannot be overstated,” Ewout Korpershoek, executive vice president of Topcon Positioning Group said.

The program has been held in multiple locations across North America and Australia throughout the first year and now expands into Europe with the first London-based Constructioneering Academy, part of the YII.

 “The active participation and feedback that we have experienced during the various Constructioneering Academy events have been very informative and encouraging. The level of interest and feedback demonstrate that there is a clear need for automated digital workflows between design and construction to help project teams be more efficient and avoid mistakes. We look forward to expanding the reach of Constructioneering Academies to other geographic locations,” Alan Lamont, Bentley Systems’ vice president for Digital Advancement Academies said. 

The program’s educational and collaborative atmosphere is creating awareness of potential productivity gaps that can be encountered on a project. It can form the basis of collaborative solutions on and how those gaps can be filled. Organizers are confident the results will be a paradigm shift in how work can be accomplished.

The Bentley Cloud service for example, enables operators to upload imagery direct-to-web without the need for high-end hardware requirements or IT constraints. Topcon instrument, control systems and software users will benefit from an industry-leading, cloud-based photogrammetric engine for fast generation of 3D engineering-ready reality meshes and digital surface models.

 “The industry needs these types of programs as a catalyst to drive digital automation adoption. A key part of the initiative is the interaction of field and office professionals from the ‘front lines’ and we are excited to provide this opportunity to professionals around the world.” Ron Oberlander, vice president of Global Professional Services for Topcon Positioning Group said.

“We believe the Constructioneering Academies are truly fostering progress. For the industry to be successful in meeting future infrastructure demands, we have to change the mindsets and processes on how we approach construction. What Topcon and Bentley have initiated and will continue to evolve is an exciting journey to help shape that change. We are looking forward to building upon the success of the inaugural year of the Constructioneering Academy,” Oberlander said.

Creating that web-based integrated workflow solution for Build! Build! Build! would be an excellent example of the ongoing collaboration of Topcon and Bentley, executives of the two companies say.  This will help simplify and speed up digital construction workflows. 

Commenting further on the utilization to the Philippine infrastructure projects it was recommended that an application of constructioneering technologies such as Topcon point Cloud and 3D mesh service, Magnet Collage Web, with the Bentley ContextCapture Cloud Processing Service, would definitely be both time- and cost-saving to the whole project since it can both unify all projects and diversify into each one on the same platform.

Companies involved in infrastructure design, construction, and operations have been looking forward to the Year in Infrastructure 2018 (YII2018) conference. The year in Infrastructure is an annual get together of industry professionals by Bentley Systems Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software and technology solutions for advancing infrastructure.

Bentley’s strategic partners, Microsoft, Siemens, and Topcon will conduct live technology presentations and panel discussions. CEO Greg Bentley excitedly introduced iTwin Services, digital twin cloud services for infrastructure projects and assets that can be transparently provisioned within Bentley’s Connected Data Environment (CDE) for ProjectWise and AssetWise users. 

He also announced the company’s acquisition of tech providers Agency9 and Legion. Agency9 is a leading provider of web and mobile solutions for 3D visualization of geographic information and maps for collaboration and communication. Legion is a world-leading developer of pedestrian simulation software. Both acquisitions will help further improve on Bentley systems technology offerings.

Bentley’s powerful software solutions were designed to both automate the design, planning and construction aspects of infrastruture development and “constructioneering,” is a term devised by the Bentley’s CEO to refer to the digital transformation and automation of the construction equipment industry.

“I look forward to actively working with users and external developers to create an open ecosystem of innovation for iTwin Services…I expect Bentley Systems to lead the infrastructure engineering community, as the ‘infrastructure digital twin’ company,” Keith Bentley, Bentley Systems founder and Chief Technology Officer said.

On October 18, top winners from 57 finalists from 420 nominations submitted by more than 340 user organizations around the world, will be selected and announced in ceremonies at the YII2018 Awards Night in London at the Hilton London Metropole. 

Considered the Oscars of the digital infrastructure industry, the awards allow finalists to present their innovative projects to their peers, the jurors, industry thought leaders, and more than 130 selected members of the media as part of related infrastructure forums at the YII2018 in several sessions on October 16 and 17.

 “As part of the conference, we are pleased to congratulate and acknowledge the awards program finalists for their excellent work, and to provide conference attendees with the chance to meet the finalists and watch their project presentations, which represent this year’s most outstanding going digital advancements in infrastructure.” Chris Barron, Bentley Systems’ Chief Communications Officer said.

This year’s conference will include thought-provoking keynotes by industry leaders including Chair of National Infrastructure Commission for the UK, Sir John Armitt, and Chief Strategy Officer for Siemens AG, Dr. Horst J. Kayser.

Other activities include the Digital Advancement Academies which is a simultaneous series of interactive half-day learning sessions led by subject matter experts including BIM advancement, construction, constructioneering, digital advancement research, process industries, and reality modeling.

The annual event opens opportunities for attendees to meet for one-on-one discussions with awards finalists as well as benefit from informative industry forums and panel discussions. 

Last year there were two finalists from the Philippines. Maynilad and the National Power Grid Corporation of the Philippines were among the hundreds of entries for the YII 2017 Awards.

“The Year in Infrastructure Conference is an ideal opportunity for infrastructure leaders from around the world to network with their peers, and learn about technologies and best practices to accelerate their organizations’ digital advancement,” Barron added. 

by Raymond G.B. Tribdino

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, has announced the winners of the Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards. The annual awards program honors the extraordinary work of Bentley users advancing design, construction, and operations of infrastructure throughout the world.

Twelve independent jury panels of distinguished industry experts selected the 57 finalists from 420 nominations submitted by more than 340 user organizations around the world.

At a ceremony and gala at the conclusion of Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference, Bentley acknowledged 19 Year in Infrastructure Awards winners and nine Special Recognition Awards winners.

Year in Infrastructure 2018 Special Recognition Awards winners:

Advancing Collaborative Digital Workflows in Rail and Transit
China Railway Engineering Consulting Group Co., Ltd. – BIM Project for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway – Beijing, China

Advancing Digital Twins for Airports
Infraero Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária – Digital Airport-Londrina – Paraná, Brazil

Advancing Digital Twins for Bridges
Composite Structures Lab, Chung-Ang University – Innovative Bridge Maintenance System Using Digital Twin Model – Seoul, South Korea

Advancing Digital Twins for Roads and Highways
Guangxi Communications Design Group Co., Ltd. – BIM-based Collaborative Design and Construction Management of All Elements and Objects in the Lipu-Yulin Expressway Project – Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

Advancing Digital Twins for Tunnels
AECOM – Tideway Tunnels C410 Central Contract – London, United Kingdom

Advancing Digital Twins for Utilities Transmission and Distribution
POWERCHINA Hubei Electric Engineering Corporation Limited – Cha’anling-Xiaojiazhou
220-kV Electric Transmission Line Project – Xianning City, Hubei, China

Advancing Industrialization through Digital Components for Urban Infrastructure
CCCC Water Transportation Consultants Co., Ltd. – BIM Technology Application in the Municipal Infrastructure Phase 1 Project of Zhong-Guan-Cun Science and Technology Town – Baodi District, Tianjin City, China

Advancing Digital Workflows for Asset Performance Modeling of Transit Systems
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. – Nagpur Metro Asset Information Management System – Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

Continuous Surveying in Constructioneering
Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC and Eye-bot Aerial Solutions – Pennsylvania Chemicals Project – Monaca, Pennsylvania, United States

The winners of Year in Infrastructure 2018 Awards for going digital advancements in infrastructure are:

Bridges
PT. WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk – Design and Build of Road Bridge at Teluk Lamong Port Project – Gresik-Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia

Buildings and Campuses
Shalom Baranes Associates – Cannon House Office Building Renewal – Washington, District of Columbia, United States

Communications Networks
iForte Solusi Infotek – iForte Fiber Management System – Jakarta, Indonesia

Construction
AAEngineering Group, LLP – Phase II of Pustynnoe Gold Plant: Modernization and Capacity Increase – Balkhash, Karaganda region, Kazakhstan

Digital Cities
Yunnan Yunling Engineering Cost Consultation Co., Ltd. – New Municipal Road Construction PPP Project of the Municipal Public Facility Construction Project of Guandu Culture New City – Kunming, Yunnan, China

Environmental Engineering
PT. WIJAYA KARYA (Persero) Tbk – Landslide Disaster Protection Project on the National Road Network – Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia

Manufacturing
Digital Engineering (BIM) Center of Shenyang Aluminum & Magnesium Engineering & Research Institute Co., Ltd. – Alumina Refinery Project Cooperated between CHALCO and Indonesia – Bukit Batu, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Mining and Offshore Engineering
Northern Engineering & Technology Corporation, MCC – SINO Iron Ore Mine – Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Power Generation
Sacyr Somague – Hydroelectric Use of the Foz Tua Dam – Foz Tua, Alijó- Vila Real, Portugal

Project Delivery
AECOM – Gaining New Perspective through ProjectWise Project Insights – United Kingdom

Rail and Transit
Skanska Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS) – HS2 Main Works Lots S1 and S2 – London, United Kingdom

Reality Modeling
Skand Pty Ltd – Building Envelope Inspection Powered by Machine Learning and Reality Modeling for RMIT University Brunswick Campus – Victoria, Australia

Road and Rail Asset Performance
CSX Transportation – Annual Patch Rail Capital Planning – Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Roads and Highways
Lebuhraya Borneo Utara – Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak – Sarawak, Malaysia

Structural Engineering
Shilp Consulting Engineers – Alambagh Bus Terminal – Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Utilities and Industrial Asset Performance
Oman Gas Company S.A.O.C. – Asset Performance Solution for Reliability Management – Al-Khuwair, Muscat, Oman

Utilities Transmission and Distribution
Pestech International Berhad – Substation Design & Automation for Olak Lempit Substation Project – Banting, Selangor, Malaysia

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants
MCC Capital Engineering & Research Incorporation Limited – 400,000 ton/day Water Supply Project of Wenjiang District, Chengdu City – Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Networks
DTK Hydronet Solutions – Conceptioneering and Master Planning of Bankura Multi Village Bulk Water Supply Scheme – Bankura, West Bengal, India

Bentley Systems has posted highlights of this year’s winning projects on its website. Detailed descriptions of all nominated projects are in the print and digital versions of its 2018 Infrastructure Yearbook, which will be published in early 2019. 

To review the past editions of this publication, which together feature more than 3,500 world-class projects recognized in the Year in Infrastructure Awards program since 2004, access Bentley’s Infrastructure Yearbooks.