Bentley Hydraulic and Hydrology Models: Fulfilling the Interoperability Dream
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OnDemand Recorded eSeminars
Using SCADA for real-time water distribution system analysis
Description: Learn how SCADAConnect can link WaterGEMS or WaterCAD with your Supervisory, Control, and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, creating real-time system simulators that boost your confidence in models as reliable decision-support tools.
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GIS, CAD, and Hydraulic Modeling Integration: Water Model Building Made Easy
Description: This presentation and software demonstration present the interoperability and integration between CAD, GIS asset data, and hydraulic water distribution model using WaterGEMS/WaterCAD.
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The evolution of GIS and its impact on sustainable hydraulic modeling
Guest Speaker:
Dave Harrington, IDModeling
Summary: This presentation will discuss the evolution of GIS, the evolution of modeling, the links between the two, some of the best practices and new technology that have recently been developed in this area, and continuing challenges which should be considered.
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Download the presentation (PDF)
Using StormCAD with AutoCAD Civil 3D
Description: Learn how StormCAD integrates with AutoCAD Civil 3D, for drainage modeling and enhanced design workflow.
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Leverage Workflows with Stormwater Modeling and AutoCAD Integration
Description: Using stormwater modeling products like StormCAD and PondPack directly within AutoCAD helps existing AutoCAD users be more productive when analyzing and designing stormwater systems. Not only can they leverage existing CAD drawings, but they can also conduct the hydraulic modeling work within a CAD platform they are already familiar with.
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Bentley is committed to delivering interoperability in its Hydraulics and Hydrology (Haestad Methods) product line. Bentley acquired Haestad Methods in 2004, and since then has not only maintained but also broadened the scope of interoperability delivered with the water, wastewater and stormwater design, modeling and analysis products.
Bentley continues to hold a position as the leader when it comes to interoperable hydrologic and hydraulic offerings, as proved with the many releases of products that are compatible with the latest product releases from Esri and Autodesk.
Bentley’s Commitment to Interoperability
Robert Mankowski, director of Product Management for Bentley’s geospatial offerings has 13 years of experience with the product line, both at Haestad Methods and Bentley, and comments:
"Since the acquisition of Haestad Methods by Bentley, we have clearly shown our continued commitment to AutoCAD, Esri’s ArcGIS, and to MicroStation users, and we will definitely keep supporting these products.
In order to support new releases of AutoCAD, Esri’s ArcGIS, or MicroStation, we release new builds of our water modeling software every time a new platform version is released:
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In fact, our relationship with Esri and Autodesk, albeit that they are Bentley’s competitors, is growing strongly:
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Only Bentley Offers True Interoperability
Strategically, Bentley is committed to the concept of interoperability.
Bentley supports the goal of making all of its products work together seamlessly, and in working with open databases. Further, Bentley is committed to being able to work natively in DGN or DWG file formats when designing infrastructure, to being able to manage heterogeneous file types through ProjectWise Integration Server and the geospatial version, the Bentley Geospatial Server.
A versatile multi-platform environment liberates users from a specific platform, allowing them to share a single modeling dataset derived from any major CAD vendor or from Esri’s ArcGIS. This means that modelers can use and open the same model file in any of the supported CAD or GIS programs’ interfaces.
Marketing programs from our competition in the water modeling market claim that their solutions are interoperable, but in order to use their water products on several platforms, you have to buy multiple water products (such as one per platform). This is not going to be cost-effective for users.
Bentley’s water products are the only products on the market to support up to four interoperable platforms in a single product (for a single price, there is no need to buy separate models for independent platforms).
With our level of multi-platform interoperability, models work together no matter what platform they were created on; people work collaboratively, each in his or her preferred environment; and organizations work more efficiently by leveraging the skills of their specialists and their investments in technology. Moreover, there are no file conversion errors to contend with.
For example, a typical workflow, which only Bentley offers, could be:
On the other hand, organizations that choose a less interoperable platform are often forced to buy additional licenses of ArcGIS or AutoCAD just to run the model, to train modeling team members that are not familiar with the selected platform, and to deal with file conversion errors that increase costs and delay project schedules.
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Water Industry's Interoperability Requirements
Interoperability has become one of the top requirements for utilities and civil engineering firms when shopping for water modeling software. Based on results from the first national water modeling survey, interoperability features claimed four of the top five user requirements for water modeling software products gathering more than 50 percent of the votes in the survey.
When looking at simultaneous use of modeling platforms, the results show that only one percent said they exclusively use a GIS-integrated platform:
Bentley’s Hydraulics and Hydrology (Haestad Methods) products are the only ones in the industry that will satisfy the 77 percent of users who require multiple, interoperable environments.
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Current Platform Support for Bentley's Hydraulics and Hydrology Products
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News and Case Studies
Article: Water Modeling Mapping & Management, August 2009, Imaging Notes
Find out how WaterGEMS and SewerGEMS' interoperability helped United Water streamline modeling tasks - download the case study (PDF)
For more information, contact your Bentley account manager:
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