Topcon and Bentley's cloud deal

Topcon Positioning Group and Bentley Systems have agreed to work together to connect cloud services for what they are calling "constructioneering".

The companies said that each would bring cloud-based solutions to provide construction workflows that were not previously possible.

Topcon's area of expertise is positioning instruments for surveying and construction, while Bentley provides software solutions for advancing infrastructure.

At Bentley's annual Year in Infrastructure conference, in London, UK, the companies said that, initially, Bentley would offer its Project Wise Connect Edition users with seamless connectivity with Magnet Enterprise, while Topcon would incorporate ContextCapture image processing for its mass data collection via unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

Ray O'Connor, president and CEO of Topcon Positioning Group, said, "Topcon and Bentley share a vision about the advancements we can achieve through what I call the continuous representation of reality.

"I believe that our strategic collaboration will continue to integrate surveying, engineering and construction, improving outcomes for project delivery."

Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems, said, "To date, surveying, engineering and construction industries have separately advanced to 3D technologies. But unbelievably, until now, 3D models have been recreated – rather than reused – at each phase."

He said that "constructioneering" would mean that engineering users could start with the reality-capture survey process, and update digital models through construction.

The companies said that cloud services brought the construction site conditions to the engineers in the first place, so that their work started with an accurate model as captured by Topcon UAS photogrammetry and laser scanners. It is then processed into engineering-ready 3D reality meshes by Bentley's ContextCapture software.

Cloud services then convey the engineers' work directly to construction processes in the field.

Topcon and Bentley said they expected to expand the "constructioneering" workflow to further applications for infrastructure services.