In 2024, our Bentley Insights & Inspirations news site published dozens of stories looking at the power of digital twins for infrastructure. The in-depth stories highlighted the digital models’ use for making our roads, bridges and even entire cities more sustainable. We also reported on generative artificial intelligence (AI) and how the technology is changing how we design and build things.
As we start the new year, our editorial team has selected 10 stories worth revisiting.
Enjoy!
Becoming Bentley: 40 Years Ago, Bentley Brothers Launched a Software Company That Helped Change How We Live
Barry and Keith Bentley founded Bentley Systems in 1984 with an ambitious vision: to move engineering design from drafting rooms and large mainframe computers to the desktop. They were eventually joined by their brothers Greg, Ray and Scott,completing their team of five professionals with plenty of talent and passion—but no business plan.
Still, over the last four decades, Bentley Systems developed engineering software that has shaped infrastructure around the world. It is helping make roads and bridges more resilient, water systems more sustainable, and communities more prepared for a changing future. Today, Bentley Systems is a global, publicly traded company with more than 5,000 colleagues worldwide, and in 2023, revenues reached$1.2 billion.
A Bridge To The Future: How Digital Twins Helped Kentucky Recover From Catastrophic Floods
When floods devastated parts of Kentucky in 2022, engineering firms Qk4 and Stantec used Bentley software to build intelligent digital twins of more than 50 damaged or destroyed bridges. By creating precise virtual models, the firms helped communities recover faster and build stronger, more resilient infrastructure.
Qk4 survey crews assessed the damage using drones, 3D laser scanners, and robotic measuring tools, and collected millions of data points to feed into Bentley Systems’ ProjectWise digital modeling software. Stantec engineers analyzed the digital models to assess the state of the bridges in minute detail. The work helped them start planning repairs of bridges that could be saved and building replacements for those destroyed.
“From an engineering standpoint, having the digital twin is like being there,” said Heather Lawler, a principal at Stantec. “It’s a definitive source of information.”
Get Real: Powerful 3D Software Brings The Future of Infrastructure to Life in Just a Few Clicks
Bentley Systems has a new advanced open visualization platform for displaying infrastructure digital twins, and it’s making an impact. The solution transforms geospatial, engineering, and architectural data into immersive, hyper-realistic environments to give users a fully interactive view of their projects. It uses Epic Games’ Unreal video game engine and other technology to reimagine infrastructure as a video game-style experience.
The solution, which is powered by Bentley’s acquisition of Cesium and new partnership with Google, uses open architecture to handle vast amounts of data in the cloud.
Anyone with an infrastructure digital twin hosted on Bentley’s iTwin platform can use the technology.
“This is the future of infrastructure design—connected, real-time, interactive and immersive,” said Greg Demchak, Bentley’s vice president for emerging technologies.
Built to Last: How MicroStation Digitized Infrastructure and Fueled Bentley’s 40-Year Rise
MicroStation continues to transform how modern infrastructure is envisioned built, and operated. The computer-aided design (CAD) software is behind some of the world’s most ambitious infrastructure projects. As the anchor of Bentley’s product ecosystem, MicroStation enables users to manage the entire lifecycle of a project—from design and construction to ongoing management and optimization..
Its popularity has surged alongside its expanding capabilities, which include powerful 3D modeling, unparalleled data integration and tools that enable seamless collaboration across teams. MicroStation now incorporates additional live-streamed geographical data, and the solution speaks Python, the world’s most popular programming language.
“Forty years ago, I was awestruck by the opportunity to deliver something so useful in MicroStation,” said Keith Bentley. “I feel that same excitement now.”
How Do The Mule Deer Cross the Road? This Colorado Civil Engineer Turned The Art of Sizing Wildlife Crossings Into a Science
Ever wonder how animals safely cross busy highways? In Colorado, civil engineer John Kronholm is solving this problem with software and digital models. He’s designing wildlife crossings—special bridges and tunnels—to help animals like mule deer avoid traffic accidents. By using technology to study how animals move, he’s making roads safer for both wildlife and drivers. He’s also setting a new standard for wildlife-friendly infrastructure.
Sometimes, he learned, even small crossings could be effective. When Kronholm studied animal migration patterns and camera footage, he realized he could build a statistical model that would allow him to right-size the length, width and height for a given species. His insights revealed that the Colorado Department of Transportation could save $1.7 million by building six smaller crossings: four for small- to medium-sized animals such as bobcats, coyote, marmot and foxes, and two larger crossings for lynx, deer and elk.
Meet Your New Design Copilot: This Software Powered By Generative AI Is Changing The Game For Civil Engineers
OpenSite+ uses generative AI to help civil engineers design land development sites for new factories, shopping centers, schools, parks and entire neighborhoods. The next-generation software creates site designs up to 10 times faster than traditional methods and with greater accuracy. New advances in generative AI lets users create design suggestions within seconds by combining project and engineering data with land information from sources like the Cesium World Terrain and the U.S. Geological Survey. The technology also brings in drainage data, building codes and regulations, and any number of other parameters.
“We have been dreaming about building a product like this for decades, and it is finally happening,” says David Settlemyer, senior product manager for civil engineering at Bentley.
Street Smarts: Bentley’s Partnership With Google — And Its Acquisition Of Cesium — Chart A New Era For How We Design, Build, And Operate Our Infrastructure
Facing mounting pressure to make roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure more resilient and sustainable, government agencies and operators are embracing the real-time, hyper-realistic visualization of digital twin technology.
This shift explains the rationale behind Bentley’s recent acquisition of Cesium, the 3D geospatial company. It also showcases Bentley’s strategic partnership with Google, which empowers Bentley software users and developers to combine rich project engineering data with Google Maps, Google’s Photorealistic 3D Tiles, and AI analytics and cloud services. By ingesting and rendering vast amounts of 3D geospatial data, 3D Tiles enable high-fidelity and intuitive visualization of real-world environments, especially when combined with Google’s expansive geospatial data.
“At Bentley, we understand that openness is not just a feature—it’s a necessity,” said Nicholas Cumins, Bentley CEO. “This is about moving the entire sector forward together.”
Network News: How Digital Twins and Analytics Are Shaping the Future of Connectivity And 5G
As the shift from 4G to 5G networks gains momentum, telecom companies are harnessing the power of digital twins to modernize cell towers at the heart of the mobile communications infrastructure. This labor-intensive process typically involves tower inspections, upgrades, equipment swaps and maintenance to improve data speed, boost capacity and lower latency.
Bentley has helped operators digitize more than 25,000 cell towers across the United States. After ingesting data from drones and other sources, the cloud-based OpenTower iQ solution generates automated reports and drawings, and integrates them into plans for upgrades, inspections and maintenance. Digital twins help operators accurately account for equipment attached to the top of each tower, plan upgrades, and uncover and fix potential defects and anomalies before they affect customers.
Power Play: How A Digital Twin Helped Cameroon Light The Way For Its People And Economy, and Become A Model For The World
In Cameroon, where more than half of the population lives in poverty and only 50% have access to electricity, a new electrification project has dramatically expanded the grid and extended reliable power to 13% of the nation’s people.
Kalpataru Projects International Limited (KPIL), one of India’s largest engineering and construction companies, led the $110 million project. The firm used LiDAR—a laser-based remote sensing technology—to capture the topography of forests, wetlands and other hard-to-reach places.
Bentley then helped KPIL create a digital twin of the project and use the model to design and lay out transmission lines, enable collaboration, and train workers. An AI- and Internet of Things (IoT) technology-powered analytics platform helps identify potential issues and reduce risks.
The powerline project helps Cameroon extend the power grid and boost its density, while reducing the country’s monthly carbon emissions by decreasing the need for diesel power generation.
Paris’ Hidden Hotspot: Geothermal Heat Is Igniting The French Capital’s Low Carbon Future
Digital models are helping Paris harvest its underground energy treasure and reduce its environmental footprint. The French capital sits atop a vast geothermal aquifer that supplies 250,000 households with low-carbon energy.
Researchers are using underground mapping and modeling software developed by Seequent, the Bentley subsurface company, to build digital twins of the aquifer and unlock more of its untapped potential. The digital twin can be updated with geological, thermodynamic, engineering and other data sets. That helps engineers better visualize and understand the reservoirs—and the production wells they need to drill to access that geothermal energy.
AI, Digital Twins and Open Data Take Center Stage at Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards
Infrastructure leaders from around the world gathered late last year for Bentley System’s Year in Infrastructure and the Going Digital Awards. The “Oscars of Infrastructure” drew more than 300 in-person attendees (and another 1,000 online) for keynotes, case studies and interactive demos focused on how AI, digital twins and open data ecosystems are transforming infrastructure.
Bentley also made big announcements during the Oct. 8-9 event in Vancouver, Canada, including a strategic partnership with Google; the launch of the generative AI-powered tool OpenSite+; and new carbon analysis capabilities to reduce emissions.
The two-day summit concluded with the Going Digital Awards, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024. Independent jurors recognized the extraordinary work of designers, builders and other professionals using Bentley software to push the boundaries of what’s possible in infrastructure.
