Bentley is committed to supporting the interoperability and free exchange of digital building information that architects, engineers, contractors, and owner-operators rely on to be successful in their businesses. Open standards benefit users by enabling seamless information flow, integrated processes, enhanced capabilities, and a project-wide approach to tasks.
This competitive advantage provides improved productivity and increased profitability over projects using closed or non-interoperable data practices. By incorporating improved collaborative processes into the workflow, users benefit by reduced time, cost, and rework by all project participants throughout all phases of the facility lifecycle.
Standards Supported by Bentley
Multiple CAD Format Support: Bentley users can work natively with DGN files, DWG files, or any mix of the two. MicroStation also supports Architectural Desktop, DXF, SVF, and many other common CAD file exchange standards.
IFC Support: As an International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) board member, Bentley actively supports the IAI’s mission to develop a standard universal framework to enable and encourage information sharing and interoperability throughout all phases of the building life cycle.
IFC2x3: Bentley's building solution has been certified as IFC2x3 compliant.
PDF Support: MicroStation users can create interactive files in Adobe PDF, the universally accepted viewing format for complex engineering information. With the press of a button, MicroStation users can generate PDF files that contain DGN and DWG drawings, project documentation, and engineering data. With the latest release of MicroStation, users can also include interactive and animated 3D models in PDF files.
Open Design Alliance: Bentley’s OpenDGN initiative and partnership with the Open Design Alliance supports software libraries that read and write Bentley’s format, V8 DGN. This enables others to develop applications that interoperate with Bentley’s native file format however their needs dictate.
Bentley is also an active supporter and participant in these standards initiatives and organizations:
- U.S. National CAD Standards
- National Institute of Building Sciences
- CSI: Uniform drawing standards
- American Institute of Architects (AIA)
- STEP
- JT Open
- CIS/2
- SDNF
- Google 3D Warehouse
- SketchUp by Google
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