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Bentley boosts its OpenRoads CONNECT construction software

Construction software solutions provider Bentley Systems announced that its OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition will be available from December. OpenRoads CONNECT Edition is the successor to Bentley’s civil engineering brands InRoads, GEOPAK, MX, and PowerCivil. OpenRoads Designer is a multi-discipline 3D modeling application for roadway projects from conceptual design through construction stages. Bentley Systems said that it “blends traditional engineering workflows for plan, profile and cross-section
November 1, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Construction software solutions provider 4019 Bentley Systems announced that its OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition will be available from December.

OpenRoads CONNECT Edition is the successor to Bentley’s civil engineering brands InRoads, GEOPAK, MX, and PowerCivil.

OpenRoads Designer is a multi-discipline 3D modeling application for roadway projects from conceptual design through construction stages. Bentley Systems said that it “blends traditional engineering workflows for plan, profile and cross-sections with 3D parametric modeling to enable the model-centric creation of all design deliverables”.

The company said that its OpenRoads CONNECT Edition integrates OpenRoads ConceptStation, OpenRoads Designer and OpenRoads Navigator. This ensures a

comprehensive modeling environment for the delivery of roadway projects, streamlining and automating workflows across all disciplines to progress designs from conception to detailed design and through construction.

The announcement was made by chief executive Greg Bentley just ahead of the opening of this year’s Year in Infrastructure Conference in London, UK. The three-day event also includes the Be Inspired Awards that recognises excellence in design and delivery globally using Bentley software for all types of infrastructure projects, from dams, power stations and commercial buildings to road, rail and port works.

This year there are nine Chinese projects among the 54 finalists for the overall award. China’s construction sector has embraced the BIM – Building Information Modeling, said Bentley.

During his keynote presentation to be presented today, Greg Bentley will emphasise the extent to which progressive clients, engineers and consultants are embarking on “reality modelling”.  

Reality modeling describes the potentially continuous capture of infrastructure assets’ as-operated conditions for processing into engineering-ready reality meshes and their “enlivening” for immersive interaction.

To date, reality modeling has processed digital photos acquired from ground-level and/or aerial photography, and in particular from the burgeoning industrial use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

During the conference Bentley will also announce what it says is a significant breakthrough in ContextCapture, planned to be available next month. Available point-clouds from laser scanning can now be combined with available photos, as “hybrid inputs,” for reconstruction into a reality mesh.

An advantages of reality modelling in the case of laser scanning is the superior engineering-ready mesh result, compared to the bulky and unintelligent point-clouds themselves.

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