Bentley Systems Buys 3D Geospatial Company Cesium

Bentley Systems, an infrastructure engineering software company, has acquired 3D geospatial company Cesium.

While the name ‘Cesium’ may not ring a bell, construction contractors may already be unknowingly using its technology.

That’s because Cesium’s 3D Geospatial Technology powers Komatsu’s Smart Construction Dashboard. The platform combines 3D design data with aerial mapping and intelligent machine data to monitor construction sites globally, track changes over time, compare architectural plans with real-world data, and run precise, near-real-time measurements.

Cesium’s 3D Tiles open standard has been widely adopted for streaming and rendering massive 3D geospatial content such as photogrammetry, 3D buildings, BIM/CAD, instanced features and point clouds. Cesium ion, the company’s SaaS platform, lets users upload data to create 3D Tiles, host it to the cloud and stream it to any device.

With the acquisition, Komatsu gained expanded access to Bentley’s digital twin technology. Bentley’s iTwin Platform powers digital twin solutions used by engineering and construction firms and owner-operators to design, build and operate infrastructure.

The companies say the combination of Cesium plus iTwin lets developers “seamlessly align 3D geospatial data with engineering, subsurface, IoT, reality, and enterprise data to create digital twins with astonishing user experiences that scale from vast infrastructure networks to the millimeter-accurate details of individual assets—viewed from land, sky, and sea, from outer space to deep below the Earth’s surface.”

Chikashi Shike, executive officer, Smart Construction Promotion Division, Komatsu Ltd., says with Cesium as part of Bentley, the company can further enhance its Smart Construction digital twins with “engineering models, subsurface data, and more, for safer and more efficient construction projects.”

Bentley CEO Nicholas Cumins added, “A 3D geospatial view is the most intuitive way for owner-operators and engineering services providers to search for, query, and visualize 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.”

Cesium’s 3D Tiles was adopted as a community standard by the Open Geospatial Consortium in 2019.

Peter Rabley, CEO of OGC, said, “As infrastructure sectors become more data-centric, the importance of an open ecosystem will only increase. As the leading voice for open standards and interoperability in the geospatial community, OGC welcomes the ongoing commitment of Bentley and Cesium to solve global challenges through open, interoperable platforms.”

With the acquisition, Cozzi was named Bentley’s chief platform officer, leading the development of the combined Cesium and iTwin platform offerings, reporting to Bentley’s CTO Julien Moutte.

The financial details of the September 6 transaction were not disclosed. 

The Komatsu Smart Construction application, powered by Cesium, includes tools to analyze progress, such as the cut and fill heatmap pictured.Komatsu