INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business
Bentley’s reality modelling
advancements comprehensively
deliver to surveying and
engineering teams:
Fidelity
Bentley technician capturing a reality mesh using the ContextCapture mobile application
Going digital: Bentley
Systems advances
reality modelling
Bentley Systems, a global provider
of comprehensive software solutions
for advancing infrastructure, recently
demonstrated its new ContextCapture
offerings for reality modelling at the
SPAR 3D Expo and Conference.
ContextCapture’s capabilities now
include cloud processing services, a
mobile app and photo planning for
Bentley’s applications.
ContextShare extends Bentley’s
ProjectWise connected data
environment to securely manage,
share and stream reality meshes
and their input sources across
project teams and applications.
Navigator Web is a new web
application that delivers high-
performance streaming of very large
reality meshes through the browser
to desktop or mobile devices.
CEO, Greg Bentley commented,
“Last year at SPAR I described what I
believed to be the significant potential
of reality modelling for improved
infrastructure engineering, in
particular, from continuous surveying
enabled by simple digital photography
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and UAVs, but that was then based
only on our own experience. There
could have been resistance from
survey professionals, concerned that
this more accessible technology might
jeopardise their return on investments
in laser scanning specialisation, for
example. It is gratifying to report now
that in the intervening year, reality
modelling has ‘gone mainstream’
globally, supporting projects and
assets of every domain and scale in
‘going digital’.
Additionally, laser scanning is now
fully incorporated, where available
and as needed, to supplement
photography, among hybrid inputs for
engineering-ready reality meshes.
“Our announcements at SPAR complete
the reach, in my view, for reality
modelling’s fidelity, accessibility,
scalability and shareability.
“This year, our priority at Bentley
Systems is to help engineers and
surveyors take full advantage of this
breakthrough opportunity to broaden
the scope and value of their work in
‘going digital’ themselves!”
Hybrid processing in ContextCapture
enables the creation of engineering-
ready reality meshes that incorporate
the best of both worlds: the versatility
and convenience of high-resolution
photography, supplemented, where
needed, by additional accuracy
from laser scanning. The new photo
planning capabilities in Bentley’s
applications empower engineering or
survey professionals to easily prescribe
the optimal camera positions and
flight paths for UAVs to achieve
the required levels of accuracy, in
particular, for critical inspection points.
Accessibility
The new ContextCapture mobile
app brings reality capture to every
member of a project delivery or
asset management team. Combined
with the new ContextCapture cloud
processing service, this delivers
3D reality meshes back to the
mobile device and to office-based
professionals, immediately after a set
of photos have been taken.
Scalability
ContextCapture enables reality
modelling to scale from city models to
site models to component nameplates.
Users can now take advantage of
cloud services’ inherent parallel
computing to speed processing
of reality meshes. Scalable mesh
technology enables multi-resolution
inputs through the new (.3sm) format.
Shareability
The new ProjectWise ContextShare
service adds breakthrough
performance in securely streaming
reality meshes and their inputs,
making it possible to instantly
and persistently share full-scale,
engineering-ready datasets across a
distributed team, whether in the field
or in the office.
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