Bentley Systems has acquired Cesium, the open platform for 3D geospatial applications.
Cesium created 3D Tiles, the Open Geospatial Consortium community standard for streaming massive 3D geospatial datasets.
Bentley Systems says the combination of its iTwin digital twin platform and Cesium will “enable developers to 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 millimetre-accurate details of individual assets – viewed from land, sky, and sea, from outer space to deep below the Earth’s surface”.
Bentley Systems chief executive Nicholas Cumins explained: “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, chief executive of Cesium, added: “Joining Bentley Systems 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 startups to global enterprises.”
Cozzi is now Bentley’s chief platform officer, leading the development of the combined Cesium and iTwin platform offerings, reporting to Bentley’s chief technology officer Julien Moutte.
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