Topcon Positioning Group and Bentley Systems announce a new level of direct communication between Bentley’s design applications and Topcon mobile work force products with the upcoming MAGNET® 4.0 release.

With the direct communication from MAGNET Enterprise to Bentley’s ProjectWise, users of Topcon’s industry-leading family of MAGNET and 3D-MC software solutions can now, while working in the field, access or receive i-models created by Bentley’s OpenRoads design modelling technology. Furthermore, the survey data and as-built conditions captured by Topcon’s field devices can be brought back into Bentley’s design applications using the same MAGNET to ProjectWise direct connection.

“The direct connection to Bentley’s ProjectWise in MAGNET Enterprise allows project managers to distribute i-models directly to their Topcon field devices,” said Jason Hallett, Topcon vice president of global product management. “With this drag and drop functionality, i-models from ProjectWise easily move from the MAGNET Enterprise Data Manager to your mobile workforce.”

This integration will allow for direct import and export of i-models in MAGNET Field and MAGNET Office products.

“With the simplified workflow from ProjectWise to machines with a Sitelink3D connection from MAGNET Office or Enterprise, updated models can be quickly sent to a machine, reducing the chance of rework and ensuring the most current data can be sent to project teams,” said Hallett.

With the upcoming release, users will be able to deliver any MAGNET project files as i-models into ProjectWise for the purpose of capturing “As Constructed” conditions of infrastructure projects.

Dustin Parkman, Bentley vice president of product development, said, “We are excited to offer the industry-first ability to ‘round trip’ i-models. Soon operators will be able to send i-models directly to their mobile work force, who can consume the models, update them directly on the job site, and then send the updated i-models from the field back to ProjectWise with selected data (points, point lists, layers library) directly to an i-model.

“The integration between ProjectWise and MAGNET Enterprise has opened up endless new possibilities for construction-driven engineering workflows using OpenRoads and MAGNET Office,” said Parkman.

MAGNET 4.0 is expected to be available in late June with additional upgrades and functionality for users.