Engineering software company Bentley Systems has acquired 3D geospatial company Cesium. The combination of Cesium with Bentley’s iTwin digital twin platform will help align 3D geospatial data with engineering, subsurface, IoT, reality, and enterprise data.

Cesium is an open platform for creating 3D geospatial applications. Its 3D Tiles open standard has been adopted by enterprises, governments, and tens of thousands of application developers globally. Cesium ion, the company’s SaaS platform, is used by over one million active devices every month.

Bentley’s iTwin Platform supports digital twin solutions used by engineering and construction firms.

Bentley CEO Nicholas Cumins said, “A 3D geospatial view is the most intuitive way for owner-operators and engineering services providers to search for, query, and visualise information about infrastructure networks and assets. With the combined capabilities of Cesium and iTwin, infrastructure professionals can make better informed decisions in full 3D geospatial context—all within a single, highly performant environment.”

Patrick Cozzi, CEO of Cesium, continued, “Joining Bentley marks an important milestone for Cesium as we continue our journey to create the best developer platform for the built and natural environment—founded on open standards and open-source technologies. The combined power of our two organisations and our shared commitment to openness will provide new opportunities for growth and create greater value for an already flourishing developer ecosystem that ranges from small start-ups to global enterprises.”

An example is Komatsu, the largest construction equipment manufacturer in Japan, and the second largest in the world, which uses Cesium’s 3D geospatial technology to monitor construction sites globally, track changes over time, compare architectural plans with real-world data, and run precise and near real-time measurements. With Cesium integrated into Bentley, Komatsu gains expanded access to world-leading digital twin technology.

Chikashi Shike, executive officer, Smart Construction Promotion Division, Komatsu Ltd., commented, “Komatsu and Cesium brought novel thinking to the construction industry by leveraging advanced visualisations to deliver more precise insights and enable our customers to make better, more informed construction decisions. With Cesium as part of Bentley, we can further enrich our Smart Construction digital twins with engineering models, subsurface data, and more, for safer and more efficient construction projects.”