Infrastructure Technology Podcast: Bentley Systems' OpenSight AI-powered site design software

In Episode 4, the ITP team kicks things off with a transit-themed “over/under” trivia game, touching on ridership, electric bus adoption and even Taylor Swift’s surprising impact on transit. Gavin Jenkins then interviews Bentley Systems’ Ian Rosam and Joey LouAllen about OpenSite+, a next-gen AI-powered tool for site engineering that reduces project timelines and boosts collaboration through data-centric, cloud-based design. The discussion explores how AI can speed workflows, check compliance and augment engineers’ work without replacing human oversight. The episode wraps up with listener emails, where the hosts reflect on how the podcast has changed how they see infrastructure and share stories ranging from electric buses to the quirky history of the “No Pants Subway Ride.”

Here is a transcript from the episode:

GJ: And welcome to the Infrastructure Technology Podcast. I'm Gavin Jenkins from Roads and Bridges, and with me, as always, we got Brandon Lewis, associate editor of Mass Transit,  and we got Ileana Garnand, the digital editor of Roads and Bridges. Brandon, what day is it?

BL: It is Tuesday, which means it is podcast day, episode numero quattro.

GJ: Numero quattro is right. And before we begin, let's do a little housekeeping at the top. Remember to email us your thoughts, questions and gripes, opine if you will, at [email protected], and please follow us on all the social medias. We're on LinkedIn. We're on Facebook. We're on Instagram. We're everywhere. Are we on Blue Sky yet, Ileana?

IG: No, but we're on Threads.

GJ: We're on Threads. Alright, so we haven't gotten to Blue Sky. Whenever there's one, remember that episode of The Office where they get that wolf and it's just like everything.

BL: Yeah.

GJ: You just post something; it goes wolf, everywhere. We're going to be on that, too.

IG: We're going to be on wolf.

GJ: Okay. Alright, on today's program, I am talking to Ian Rosen and Joey LouAllen from Bentley Systems, but first, we're going to have a little bit of fun, and Brandon, why don't you take it away and tell us what we're going to do.

BL: We are. So in today's society, where in most states, gambling is legal, and I know you guys have heard now numerous and many times about that famous game everybody loves to play now called over or under. Are you going to take the over or under point total, the famous phrase now used in gambling. We're going to play it today in regards to Mass Transit trivia. and Gavin and Ileana, I'm going to ask you guys three recent questions about a transit agency, and then I'm going to ask you a question about something that happened a couple of years ago that I think may still be relevant. I think I'm going to get a laugh out of you guys. You guys may not expect the numbers, so I'm excited. We have four total questions. The first question is the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, PSTA. They recently broke ground at a new clear water station. The question is, how many daily passengers will this station eventually support? And the over or under is at 2,500.

GJ: 2,500?

BL: 2,500. So do you guys think…

GJ: Where is it? Do you say Pensacola? Where is this?

BL: This is the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, which is located in Tampa Bay, Florida.

GJ: Tampa Bay, Florida.

BL: So do you guys think that this station is going to hold over or under 2,500 daily passengers?

IG: I'm going to say over.

GJ: Over. Why?

IG: There's a lot of people in Florida, right?! It's a great retiree spot and maybe these retirees don't or can't drive anymore, so they're getting on that public transit.

GJ: Right, but the people in Florida who are retired, they're not going to work on a daily basis. Those folks, God bless them, are living the dream, and they're driving around in golf carts. I once spent two months in Central Florida. I've been to Miami. I've been to Fort Lauderdale. I've been to Tampa a couple of times. There's no way it's over. It's got to be under because Floridians love their cars, and specifically, they love big trucks. They love SUVs. They don't have snow down there, but if there is snow, they need to have the four-wheel drive ready to go, and I think it's under.

BL: So one of you is obviously right. Gavin, you are right.

GJ: Oh my God.

BL: It is under. Now, how under do you think it is?

GJ: I think it's probably like by 5,000.

BL: Nah, so this station is going to hold 2,300 people a day.

IG: Okay.

BL: So not that far under. Only about 200 under.

IG: That's still a good amount.

BL: Yes.

GJ: Oh, wait, 5,000, I'm going to put it into the negative. You should call me on that. I thought you originally said 25,000. It was just 2,500.

BL: 2,500, yes.

GJ: I still would have gone under. I still would have gone under.

BL: That's okay, but yeah, I mean, still, if you think about that guys, 2,300 people in a station per day is a lot of people.

IG: It is.

GJ: It is a lot of people.

BL: Okay, let's move to question number two. We are going outside of the U.S. We're going to Canada because Calgary Transit has put in an order for NovaBus for LFE+ electric buses. The question is, in this order, how many buses did they order? Now, just for a little context here. Some transit agencies order, you know, a small amount of buses. Others order them in big batches and large amounts, so I have set the over/under here at 100.5 so do you guys think that this order was over 100 buses or under 100 buses?

IG: I am going to say under. I am not super familiar with the different Canadian states and cities, and so I can't in my mind make up how much of a population that is, but electric buses are kind of new in some places so maybe they're just testing the waters.

GJ: My question is how many people on these buses will be wearing Canadian tuxedos? That's the real over/under. I too, am going to go under just because I don't think Calgary is that big of a city. I know that it has a hockey team, and I know that it's, I've been told that it's a beautiful city and that the surrounding area is very beautiful, but I don't know how, like Ileana said, I'm not familiar with how big it is, so I'm going to go under.

BL: Well, this order is going to start in 2027, and the order is for 120 buses.

IG: Wow, they're going all in.

BL: Yes, they are. Canada, along with obviously a lot of U.S. transit agencies, but Canada really has electrified and sped up the process of ordering these electric buses, and Canada is very much moving forward with the electric bus process and getting everybody over to zero-emission buses.

GJ: My goodness, that is wild. That's a lot of electric buses. That is fascinating.

BL: Question number three. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority out in Boston, MBTA, they have upgraded the train speed on its orange line by 20.5 miles per hour. Do you think that's over or do you think that's under?

GJ: So wait, okay, let me get this straight. So they have increased the speed and the over/under is 20 miles per hour that they've increased it.

BL: Correct.

GJ: Okay, wow. I would love to know how much it's already set at now, but that would probably give it away.

BL: I can tell you if you would like.

GJ: Oh, I would like a hint.

BL: it was set at 40 miles an hour.

GJ: Oh, okay, and so over/under 20 mile per hour increase?

BL: Yes.

GJ: I am going to go first this time just because I want to be the first to say over. It’s definitely over. You need a bus that can go at least 70 miles per hour these days.

BL: it's not a bus. It's a train. These are train speeds.

GJ: Oh, it's a train. I am, dear listener, I'm not as dumb. I'm…

BL: Gavin, you're out of it today, man.

GJ: Well, first off, we're not recording in the morning like we used to. We're recording in the afternoon, and I have had a long day, and it's that we're recording this the Tuesday after Labor Day. I am exhausted, and also, I'm not that smart, so I'm out of it. I'm out of it. So trains, okay. Well, still, I got to figure that they wouldn't have compared the speed of Superman to a locomotion if the locomotive wasn't fast so I'm still going over.

IG: I rode Boston area trains this summer. I had a lovely visit. I don't remember what line it was. I don't think it was the Orange Line. I am going to agree. No, I'm, oh, my gosh. I'm going to say under. I'm going to say under. It felt like we were going quick but not insanely fast.

BL: Ileana, you should be glad you changed your mind.

IG: Okay.

BL: The answer is under. They have increased it by 15 miles an hour to 55 miles an hour.

GJ: Oh, that doesn't seem that fast to me. How fast is like a speed train?

BL: I don't know the answer off the top of my head. I'm guessing about 70 miles an hour for a speed train.

GJ: I mean, we can do how fast is a speeding bullet? Not speeding train.

BL: I would guess 70 to 80 MPH.

GJ: Okay, a speed train can refer to various technologies, but the fastest currently operating in Shanghai is 268 miles per hour.

BL: Ooh, okay.

GJ: While the Japanese maglev aims to be 314 miles per hour. We don't have those here in America for some reason. Like, God forbid, we get to Pittsburgh to Cleveland in 30 minutes.

IG: That'd be the dream.

GJ: Yeah, really would be. Okay, how fast is a subway car in New York?

BL: The typical one is around the same speed or on that 50, 60 miles an hour. They all typically are about the same.

GJ: Yeah. It says 55. Alright, now my next question is how many people ride subways every day?

BL: Obviously depends on the city you're in. I know MBTA is huge. Obviously, San Francisco is huge. New York. It's I would imagine, per day, I mean, you're probably looking at 100,000 or so.

GJ: No, we got to go way up.

BL: 200?

GJ: Way up, way up, way up.

BL: 500?

GJ: Way up. You're not even in the ballpark.

BL: Oh, my God. How much?

GJ: Seven million a day.

BL: A day?

GJ: A day.

BL: A day?! I don't believe that.

GJ: Yeah. Seven million.

BL: That's…

GJ: Seven million.

BL: Alright, are we talking like a specific city or is that like…

GJ: New York City subway system serves seven million passengers daily.

BL: Oh, my.... Seven million a day is, yeah, it's crazy, but I can totally see it with all the people.

GJ: Yeah.

BL: Okay.

GJ: And Tampa’s train is at 2300.

BL: Yeah.

GJ: Yeah, that's a huge difference.

BL:  Alright guys, I got one more question for you.

GJ: Alright, let's do it.

BL: So in 2023, we're going back a couple of years. It was the summer of boom with transit because of one woman. This woman happens to be engaged now to a famous football player known as Taylor Swift, who is now obviously engaged with Travis Kelce, so I had to throw this in here because there was obviously some recent news that hit the United States that we may be getting a royal wedding soon between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, so because of that, ladies and gentlemen, in Atlanta, when Taylor Swift was doing her concert in 2023, how many people did the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, MARTA, carry over that weekend?

GJ: Oh my God. It's a good question.

BL: But we covered this as a part of our 2023 May/June issue, the only article we ever have on our Mass Transit website that has to deal with Taylor Swift. So the over/under on this I set it at 200.5, so essentially, do you think that MARTA transferred over or under 200,000 people during that weekend to see Taylor Swift?

GJ: Wow. How many shows did she do in Atlanta that weekend?

BL: I believe it was two.

GJ: Whoa. Okay. Alright, and did we... next question. Was she playing at that, where the Falcons play?

BL: I don't know that answer, but I would assume so.

GJ: I mean, that's a huge part of the question because I mean if they're playing, if it's outdoors where the Braves play, it's a little bit different size wise. I'm going over.

IG: I'm also going to go over. I think anything concerning Taylor Swift is going to be a crazy amount of people. I knew people who flew from Texas to Michigan, I think, to see her. I knew someone who's considering going to Europe, so if it's a quick transit ride in Atlanta, I think almost everyone will jump at the chance.

BL: So it's going to be under.

IG: Wow.

BL: But I included this question for a reason because MARTA carried 140,000 people that weekend, but that number is significant because it is triple the amount of what they usually carry on a weekend.

GJ: Wow.

BL: So think about the impact just her alone has on that transit system for one weekend.

GJ: I'm glad I was not in Atlanta that weekend.

IG: Really carrying public transit, though. Good for her.

BL: Yeah. I mean, it really was the summer of public transit. Their ridership was up all over that summer, and it was mostly due to her, so that's why we included it. Yes, Taylor, you're getting mentioned on the ITP. Maybe it’ll help with our SEO.

GJ: At this moment in time, I don't even have any recollection of the summer of 2023 at all. Part of me still thinks it's 2020, so.

BL: Some days it feels like it, Gavin.

GJ: Yeah. Well, that was over/under from Brandon Lewis with Mass Transit trivia. Alright, well, up next is my interview with Ian Rosam, who is the director of product management at Bentley Systems, and Joey LouAllen, who is the senior product manager at Bentley Systems, and we're going to be talking about OpenSite+. Stick around for this interview. 

GJ: Okay, Ian Rosam, director of product management at Bentley Systems, and Joey LouAllen, senior product manager at Bentley Systems. Welcome to the Infrastructure Technology Podcast. How are you gentlemen doing today?

IR: We're good, thank you. Well, I'll let Joey speak for himself as well. Go ahead.

JL: Doing well. Thank you.

GJ: Are you sure? I mean, is he pressuring you, Joey?! I know Ian's a bit of a bully, no?!

JL: No pressure. That was my completely honest answer. Yeah, no, there wasn't any coercion at all.

GJ: How long have you two been working together?

IR: Oh, now you're testing us.

JL: That's a good question.

GJ: Yeah.

IR: It's probably over 12 years, isn't it?

JL: Yes.

IR: Yeah, we've known each other a fair while, so.

GJ: Okay. Alright, well, to our listeners, there's a little bit of rapport between these two. They're characters, they're buddies, and they work at Bentley together, and Bentley is definitely one of our favorite companies here at Roads and Bridges. You guys are great. Today, we're going to be talking about OpenSite+, and this isn't just another civil engineering tool. It's built specifically for site engineering and is AI-powered to help engineers work smarter, not harder by automating tedious tasks. It delivers projects up to 10 times faster without sacrificing accuracy, giving teams more time to refine designs and improve quality. It's also your all-in-one solution, data-centric, digital twin native, with integrated drainage design and automated drawing production. So gentlemen, we'll start with you, Ian, if you'd like to start. I'm just assuming you're British, so I'm assuming you want to answer first. For our listeners who are unfamiliar, how would you describe OpenSite+ in simple terms, and how does it differ from Bentley's other design tools?

IR: Well, you've already outlined in simple terms, but yeah, I'll sort of recap a couple of things and tell…

GJ: Oh, my outline was correct? That was good?

IR: Oh, it's lovely. It was beautiful. It was beautiful, yeah. But no, I mean, OpenSite+, it's a purpose-built solution for site engineering. That's the key simple thing there, and it's the first of the next generation of Bentley products and the reason for that is because it's natively built on iModels. Now, historically, iModels have been essentially sort of read-only in infrastructure cloud, but here, this is an authoring application. The other thing is it's AI-powered, which sets it apart because it makes it smarter. We can deal with better design decisions, predictive insights, and ultimately, the end goal there, and it ties in nicely with Bentley infrastructure cloud because it's based on iModels, but I think what I should do there is just expand on this. I know you said simple, but actually, I'll give a little bit of context if I could. So some of that context comes from it being a generational change, and if we look back at Bentley's long history, I know you're sort of familiar with it, but perhaps not everybody is. I mean, Bentley was established back in the mid-80s, '84, and it was based on computer-aided drafting and mainframes and workstations. Obviously over time, that evolved and grew with solutions spanning multiple disciplines into sort of like the broad infrastructure design solution it is, and that was all based realistically around a DGN file system at its core, and so that's been the heart of MicroStation, of OpenRoads and many other products that we have. Now, realistically, with the emergence of BME in the mid-2000s, it really became clear that that file-based system needed to evolve. It needed to do more, have more breadth and depth, and that's where Keith Bentley introduced iModels back in probably about 2007 to address the needs of the model with a more data-centric approach, and that data was being stored in a relational database that would work as a container spanning all the disciplines that need to be involved in the design processes, and ultimately, that iModel technology evolved into the concept of infrastructure cloud and digital twins, and it provides that physical asset representation, as well as the, sort of the modeling aspect as well and so it's really about performance in the cloud and understanding the model, and that's really where we cycle back again to OpenSite+. It's iModel, it's based on the iModel, and it's in the cloud, but also, it's AI-powered. So a bit of a long answer, but I tried to give a bit of history as well.

GJ: No, I love the history. I like that you explained that next gen- why it's next generation, because in the first part of your answer, that's what popped into my head is what makes it next generation. Thank you for that answer. It was great so what specific problems in site road and bridge design was OpenSite+ created to solve?

IR: So, I mean, we've touched on this, but it was created with one purpose, realistically, to solve civil engineering problems for site design. Make it smarter, faster, more intuitive, very different interface and purely for sort of site design, commercial, residential, sort of site situations, so it's really trying to get away from generic software on a platform that's trying to fit your design workflow. It doesn't necessarily fit, so it's trying to evolve that and have that solution specifically built for site engineering. As we've said, it's powered by AI from the outset, so the AI is also grounded in real world challenges and is focused about trying to help you deliver better results to clients with ultimately less effort and less pain as you're going along, so that AI is embedded, and it really changes the game on how we work on many fronts. So probably the most notable is with the inclusion of Bentley AI Copilot, so whether you're just providing some generic project information that you might need to sort of query against or automating repetitive tasks, that's really going to be a key differentiator as it enables that smarter design, working in different ways, better decisions, predictive insights and so on, and this is going to continue to evolve as we develop out more AI agents that are going to help you, so ultimately, it's about open site delivering on a more competitive platform, delivering faster, better, and that's all about when your tools are built for the job. it lends itself to more efficiency for the entire team.

GJ: I feel like you answered a lot of my follow-up questions as you went on there, but...

IR: There's a lot of detail. There's a lot of detail.

GJ: There's a lot of detail, but, you know, it sounds like it's just a fascinating new tool that civil engineers can use, and I imagine that a lot of our listeners will be excited to try it out. Can you share a real-world example where OpenSite+ significantly reduced project time or cost?

IR: Yeah, no, I just probably need to stress that at the moment, we're not in general access. So it's not commercially available. We are in a process of engaging with our users through first movers, through an EAP, but from discovery engagements that we have, just as an example, if we are sort of looking at, say, a sort of a commercial site, it's covering about, say, 400 hectares, so it's going to include site grading across that. We've got, say, six, seven buildings with about, there's quite a lot, three million square feet, parking for about 1,800 cars, you know, all the associated pavements, cyborgs, drainage, storage ponds, attenuation ponds, whatever you want to call them. And then leading out into the contractual deliverables. What we're seeing, you know, in those sort of projects that we're running at that level, we're seeing a reduction from, say, eight to 12 weeks for that typical project to run through to produce that design, iterate on the design, do the deliverables, down to probably about two to three weeks. Now, obviously, projects are going to vary depending on the complexity, but that's a fairly significant reduction, and a lot of that comes down to automation, having information available through the Bentley AI co-pilot, having confidence in that information that you're getting because of the citations and things like that, but also for sheet production. What people are doing at the moment is, it's a very labor-intensive process, and so there's countless hours spent producing those deliverables, drafting, adding drawing notes, moving them around to make sure that they're really not overlapping, all of those types of things, and OpenSite+, with the sort of AI included, really starts to change that game because those drawings are optimized based on learnings that we've been doing on sample drawings during the development process. So, you know, the annotations, labels, they're all done automatically, and ultimately, what we're seeing there is a dramatic reduction in time spent on those tasks, and, yeah, early indications are about 10 times sort of improved delivery time against those drawings, so that's obviously a fairly significant saving on the back end in terms of producing those drawings. So yeah, just to give you a few ideas.

GJ: That just sounds- yeah, just makes it so much more efficient. That's awesome. Joe, feel free to contradict him and tell him, tell us where he's messing up. I guess my next question would just be about integration, and, you know, I imagine some of our listeners have used OpenRoads or OpenBridge, and I'm just wondering, how does this integrate with other platforms?

IR: Do you want me to go or what?

JL: Go ahead. I'll defer for now.

GJ: Okay.

IR: Fair enough, so I mean, this one's actually a relatively easy one to answer. I mean, as we said, it's not a DGN-based system anymore, but OpenSite+ natively uses those iModels, so that's a significant difference, so how do we integrate? Well, ultimately, they're sharing data models, so, you know, there's alignment at that level and the workflows align as well, but ultimately, they're all unified through the digital twin, so the information is available, whether you are in the DGN environment and needing to reference in an iModel or in that iModel and being able to link in, the DGN information available to it, so through connectors, those are all communicating and the data models are available whichever platform you're in.

GJ: So tell me about collaboration then. You know, on the job site between civil engineers and contractors. During a road or bridge project, how does OpenSite+ improve that collaboration?

JL: One of the key things that really is part of the evolution of what we are working towards is really to enhance collaboration. You know, one of the most significant ways that errors happen or time is drained is in that activity of exchanging information and passing information around. So collaboration is really at the heart of what we want to do with digital twins and Bentley Infrastructure Cloud, which is a piece, a supporting role for the delivery of projects from OpenSite+. So what that means is one with OpenSite+, we can consolidate data from multiple sources. So, imagery from drones or GIS data overlaid together, along with your topographic survey, along with the other existing conditions all be combined together there. Then, through Infrastructure Cloud, that's the cloud portal where this data can be published from the design phase to the delivery phase, that opens the door for the collaboration between the designer, the reviewer, the contractor, inspectors and other people, so that we can interact on that digital project in a way we haven't been able to do in the past. A much more dynamic, a much more interactive again and direct connection on that digital project that allows again a streamlined collaborative approach that really is, I think it's eye-opening to say the least.

GJ: It sounds like it. So how does the artificial intelligence within OpenSite+ help identify potential design risks or suggest better alternatives?

JL: So the AI, you know, when it comes to looking at minimizing those risks based off of the AI acts as a, as we said, the AI- Bentley AI co-pilot. So you think of that as an assistant through this process and then that allows, in terms of looking at what existing conditions might be, trying to understand the topography, so there's opportunities here where the AI can enable better grading optimization, the understanding and access to planning or zoning regulations that are relevant to your site design at that time, whether that's knowing the parking space count that's required or the minimum setbacks, minimum area that's needed for that particular building in that location, so it really, again, it brings together, this ability, as we look at the planning and conceptualization of the site initially, to really understand and consolidate information from many sources, whether that, again, is optimizing an analytical activity of optimizing your earthwork and balancing the earthwork on the site, as well as acknowledging and understand zoning requirements and allowing you to interact and check that along the way.

IR: And I'll sort of extend on that, if I could actually very briefly there. I mean, ultimately, I would say, you know, the intent for us, and this is not current capability, but the intent here is that in the future, we utilize, you know, the AI aspects as we develop more sort of AI agents to offer up alternative layouts. I mean, that's a key thing is, you know, learn from what you've done in the past and recommend something that might solve this solution. Just come up with some recommendations, be it some drainage or performance or safety criteria, so that's certainly something for the future. It's not for now, but it's definitely on the radar, and something that we would like to look at in the future.

GJ: Okay, that actually touches upon my next question, which was about learning. So OpenSite+ this AI, it learns from past projects and improves on future design suggestions?

IR: Yes, it does. Now, there's some qualification that I needed to give that. We use machine learning internally when we're developing, so we use machine learning on sample data to you know, understand the conditions, whether that's from a site modeling or from a sheet layout perspective, so we essentially do the machine learning and train the AI agents internally to provide that grounding that is there. Okay, so, yes, we do that. Now, what I need to point out here, and it's actually, it's a very important aspect, of, part of Bentley's sort of vision about AI and how we're utilizing it, and it's really about the learning that is done by the end user on their own projects. That information is not shared. That learning is not shared unless you opt in. A lot of AI is done as an opt out, so you're not aware of that your information that you're providing and the projects you're working on is potentially providing benefits to other organizations, so something about our sort of policy, AI data policy at Bentley is, I think this is a really good thing that it requires an opt-in to share the learnings. Now, at the same time, it's a good thing and a bad thing. A bad thing is that there's all of this information being put through and going to be passed through the AI, but that information isn't going to be shared, so I would like to advocate that hopefully people are going to help us to help them in the long term as well, but that's, you know, that's the route that we're going, and I think it's a really positive route with that AI data policy that it is an opt-in. So yeah, and that's one aspect. The other thing I think the AI co-pilot, there's some learnings that we can have from that and that's on how we can teach people to interact with AI better and how you communicate with AI. I mean, obviously there's always the say thank you when you ask a question and get an answer, but, you know, there's a style of communication, and it, you know, that can evolve, and that can evolve as the AI sort of, the large language model actually evolves itself, so, you know, there is a learning for people as to how to interact and any portable device that you have or home speaker system, whatever that's got its own AI built in or your car, there's a certain way that you need to communicate with it, and you have to learn a little bit of that, so there's some learnings there for us in that respect as well.

GJ: When is it going to be available on the market?

IR: So that's a good question, and it's a hard question. There's multiple answers I can give here. We are in the process at the moment, as I said, with first movers and early access program, so we're looking to take that to a limited availability. So limited availability is really about, as the name said, limited. So ringed, giving access to a few accounts to make sure that we are heading in that right direction before we open up the doors and sort of open that valuation. So in terms of dates for that, the first mantra of product management is to never give a date because you might be held to it. But, you know, we’re…

GJ: Great.

IR: I would like to defer to a year in infrastructure to expect announcements and more clarity around when it's going to be available, but I think a key thing I would say is it's imminent, and it has to be right, so, you know, there are some caveats to it, but yes, it's imminent, and I would defer to you in infrastructure for that, though.

GJ: Yeah, and I'm looking forward to the year in infrastructure. That'll be in mid-October, where I will get to go to Amsterdam to hang out with you two and everybody else from the Bentley family, and I just hope that whenever it's limited to the market, I hope that since Bentley was founded in Pennsylvania that it comes to Pennsylvania first.

IR: It will.

GJ: Specifically Pittsburgh. I know I'm on the other side of the state from Bentley's home, but I really hope it comes over to us.

IR: I mean, I'd qualify to that as well. The limited is geographically as well because it is targeting the North American market in the first instance, so your wish has been granted there.

GJ: Excellent Alright, well, that's awesome. Well, I know that Bentley has a lot of markets and that's one of the things that has really been so eye opening to me. This will be my fourth year in infrastructure, where I've been a juror for one of the Bentley Awards, and the work that Bentley does on roads and bridges throughout the world is just so amazing. This software, this technology that Bentley creates is so valuable to global infrastructure that I can't even, I don't even think I can put it into words, but getting back to OpenSite+ or do you…

IR: I was just going to say, I was just going to add to that. I was just going to qualify.

GJ: Yeah.

IR: It's not the work that Bentley does. We just produce the software. We do the easy bit. The hard bit is- is from our users. They perform miracles with the software. They bend it in ways in which we never imagined, to produce some incredible projects, and that's what year in infrastructure is about. It's about that celebration of the work that our users do, so that's the whole point.

GJ: That's a great point. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. That's the point of the awards, and it is true. Getting to see what it has done in Indonesia, what its done in New Zealand, what its done in China is amazing. So getting back to OpenSite+. How do you see AI evolving in the civil engineering space over the next five to 10 years? Obviously, OpenSite+ is the first generation. The first, what's like Bentley's first step into this next phase. So where are we going from here?

IR: Wow. You like to ask some hard questions, though.

JL: That’s tough.

GJ: You can give that to Joey if you want.

IR: No, that's fine. I mean, I think... I mean, we've all got opinions on this, but I mean, it's probably one that probably suits some of the things that I say more as far as I know. but I mean, AI is moving so quick. You know, it's quite honestly, it's moving at a frightening pace. You know, you open up your news feed in the morning, there's something new that's coming online. I mean, obviously, there's ChatGPT four to five. You know, it's- it's a massive difference from high school education to degree level or whatever it is, you know, and also with inbuilt reasoning, so that's moving at an incredible pace so how can we keep up with that? That's going to be the interesting challenge, and, you know, it's a learning process for us. This is the first implementation, but as I say, what we'll see is more AI agents that deal with specific tasks coming into the software more and more, streamlining some of those processes, automating the processes, so where will we be in five to 10 years? Crickey, that's a real stretch, isn't it? I think if anybody knew where it was going to be in five years...

GJ: Nobody knows. Nobody knows.

IR: I mean, it is moving at such a pace. but, you know, perhaps more predictability, more prediction, more autonomous you know, handling larger amounts of data. I mean, it handles large amounts of data. That's what AI is good at.

GJ: Well, let me give you an example of what I was thinking of when I wrote that question. Alright, for example, is OpenSite+ able to meet local engineering codes and safety standards? And also, you know, in the future, will AI be able to handle end to end road and bridge design with minimal human intervention? Or will it always need to be a partnership with AI and humans?

JL: Well, that...

GJ: It's a three part question.

IR: Can I finish that?

JL: We'll go together. Alright, so number one, so you ask about, does OpenSite+ coupled with AI help designers adhere to local design standards? And the answer is yes. So through the AI copilot and the indexing of documentation and data from those regulations, as I mentioned before, those zoning regs or other regulations, OpenSite+ will, number one, do two things. It will check or validate your design as you design against those standards. If you invoke it, it will actually assist you in creating the design, the parking lot, For example, if you invoke it at the point of design to help you produce the parking lot with the proper parking space count or so forth, so there's really two pieces there. It will help the designer in that design phase to adhere to those designs or those local regulations and standards. Now...

IR: If I could- if I could answer that...

GJ: Go ahead. Okay.

IR: Actually, there's a caveat.

GJ: Yeah.

IR: What Joey talked about there was indexing those standards. Now, we have to have access to those standards, but we don't have access. We don't link out into the web, so standards have to be available and be able to be consumed and used at that local level, so it does require the owning authority on those standards to open them up to AI processes and learning and that's not currently the case, so, you know, that's something in the industry that as more technology comes online that's going to assist, there's either going to have to be a relaxation on some of these, and it might be some paid-for publications for highway authorities. Some are open, some are paid for and some specifically stipulate no, sort of, not for use with AI, so that's a little bit of a change there, so.

JL: Right.

GJ: Sorry to interrupt there.

JL: If published standards are available to be indexed, and to follow on, Gavin, to what your question was, you know, in the coexistence of an AI co-pilot along with the designer working together to produce this optimized design, you know, in that relationship, you ask about what's the future look like? Will AI be able to produce designs from A to Z, beginning to end? Will that become more autonomous? And I think it's important to go back to what we just described from the beginning. It's a partnership. So we see it as a partnership between the designer and an AI agent to work together for that. The ultimate responsibility for any project is the designer, so there's the coupling of the AI to help minimize tedious tasks and simplify things, to bring to light any things that might not be compliant along the way during that design process, but ultimately, the responsibility and the liability resides with a human and an organization, so we see it as a coexistence and a partnership for the future, so in that relationship, in that partnership, I think that's where you're going to see the evolution over the next five to 10 years of that partnership becoming more and more symbiotic and more and more advantages and enhancements and productivity being gained by that relationship.

GJ: Alright, well, gentlemen, I don't have any other questions, but I leave it to you. Is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap it up?

IR: I mean, we've covered a lot. I mean, it's great to talk about these things. I think, you know, from my experience or from our experience, it's, and we've heard it in the questions, actually, it's the AI that is driving a lot of interest. There's a lot of intrigue. What's it going to do? How's it going to change? And obviously, it's going to influence internally and Bentley as well. You know, this is a changing landscape. As we talked about, this is the, OpenSite+ is the first of a new generation of products and new capability that's augmented by AI technologies, so we're living in exciting times. It's a real shift in the industry, and I think the industry is going to have to react, and it's a real exciting time. so it's, you know, that…

GJ: It makes me worried. If I may jump in, it makes me worried for young engineers. You know, there are college students, university students across North America and Europe who, you know, I mean, are they even being prepared for what's coming?

IR: That's a great point. They're better equipped than we are, Gavin. You know, they're coming out of university. They've still got opposable thumbs, you know. No, they're living in the digital world. They're using AI all the time, so they're probably better equipped than we are to communicate with AI either by text or verbally and understand some of those processes, so I think- I think it becomes a little bit more exciting for engineers to come in and be able to interact in that way, and we're seeing it actually with interns coming in from a development perspective. It's a great opportunity to come in because it's a fast moving environment. It's more dynamic. You know, the design processes are quicker and more snappy, and you know, the attention spans don't have to be as long. It's not going to take weeks and so on. You can condense some of those processes down, so I think it actually is going to play into enticing more people out of university into civil engineering. It’s kind of becoming more like a gaming environment in some respects, you know, and it's exciting. So, yeah.

JL: And back to your original question, Gavin, you know, talking about the next generation of design applications, that next generation, this enablement of AI and this dynamic designing interaction where you are, you know, moving your grading points around or literally changing the 3D model of the drainage network, and you're dynamically interacting with the design in this virtual digital environment. The AI is enabled and that efficiency is enabled because this is a data centric environment, not a drawing or element based CAD type environment of the past. This is a dynamic data centric modeling environment, which allows us to interact, look at our design, make modifications, get that feedback of that one modification. If we move an inlet, we move a low point or a high point, we see that change instantaneously so that means our decision making process is now, you know, it goes to the next level of speed and efficiency.

IR: Snappy.

JL: Snappy. Yes, it's very snappy, as Ian would say.

GJ: Is it true that those poor interns that Ian snaps his fingers when he wants another Diet Coke? He's like, ‘Where's my Diet Coke’? Snapping his fingers at the interns?

IR: No, no. I have to get my own Diet Coke, I'm afraid. Sorry, we don't have interns for that. As much as I would like it.

JL: There's a can over there of Diet Coke.

GJ: Bentley hasn't given you the Diet Coke button like Trump has in the White House?

IR: No, and other Coke varieties are available, you know, if we're not advertising specific brands here.

GJ: Alright, Ian Rosen, director of product management at Bentley Systems, and Joey LouAllen, senior product manager at Bentley Systems. Gentlemen, I'm looking forward to seeing you in Amsterdam in October and thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about OpenSite+.

JL: Thank you, Gavin.

IR: Thank you for having us. 

GJ: And we're back. That was my interview with Ian Rosen and Joey LouAllen from Bentley Systems, and I'll tell you, I am really pumped for OpenSite+. I think it's going to be just revolutionary, and part of that is because I trust Bentley Systems. You know, such a great name, Bentley, in the industry, great technology. They help infrastructure projects around the world. Brandon, Ileana, what did you think of the interview?

BL: Yeah, absolutely, Gavin. I agree with you. You know, here at Mass Transit, we work with Bentley Systems a little bit on some transit projects, not as much as you guys at Roads and Bridges, but I thought my biggest takeaway from this interview, Gavin, is the guys talk mostly about our biggest fears with AI but the one thing that we can do to help with AI is actually learn how to communicate with it, right?! That, you know, AI is really just this computer generated model that the more specific you get with it, the more accurate it's going to get, and I think as we've seen, over time, technology is going to not only help bridges, but mass transit and everything that we need from roads to bridges to buses to infrastructure to wherever you can think of, it's going to get built faster thanks to this technology.

GJ: Alright, Ileana?

IG: Yeah, that was a great interview, Gavin. I'm always impressed when y'all handle more than one person. What really stuck out to me was the efficiency that this tool offers. They were saying it cuts the project design phase from eight to 12 weeks to two to three. That is crazy and then the drawing and document phase by 10 times. As Brandon mentioned, we do talk a bit about fears about AI on this podcast, but when it's something like this, it is an absolute no-brainer for me. If it's going to save you that amount of time, that amount of busy work, there's nothing to lose.

GJ: Yeah, and it's really, when you're talking to them, it really- this is the first step of the next generation of Bentley products. You know, it's like the tip of the-tip of the iceberg for what they can accomplish with AI, and so it's really exciting. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this and hearing what else is coming down the road from Bentley whenever I go to the Year in Infrastructure Awards in October, which is in Amsterdam. I mean, I don't mean to brag, but I'm going to get to go to Amsterdam.

IG: If you get an extra ticket, let me know.

GJ: Yeah, okay. Well, that was my interview, and now we have, I think, some listener emails to go over.

IG: Yes, we put out the call and y'all answered. I picked out some of my favorite questions I want to pose to you guys. Came directly from you, the listeners, so thanks so much. Keep sending those, and you yourself could have your question featured on the ITP. The first question comes from Caleb in Massachusetts, and he is wondering, what is the most exciting infrastructure tech to you right now?

GJ: Well, I mean, it's recent bias, but I'm going with the OpenSite+, just because it's an all-in-one solution. Data-centric, digital twin native, integrated drainage design and automated drawing production, 10 times faster without sacrificing accuracy. I think whenever this, you know, hits the market, it's going to be a game changer.

BL: I'm going to go back to actually season one of the ITP and go back to my conversation with Stacey Matlin at the Transit Tech Lab because what they're doing in New York City with those technologies, and obviously MTA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, they are going to use the technologies that they are building for that lab and for that contest, for the future of transit, and obviously one of the biggest markets in the U.S.

IG: It's such a coincidence, Brandon, that you used electric buses during the over and under segment because when I read that email, the first thing that came to mind for me was electric buses. I am such a fan of public transit, and I think adding that extra sustainability is great. It makes the cities smell a lot cleaner, your air is better when it's electric buses, and they're actually quieter. You don't hear all that rattling when you're on the bus, and it's a smoother experience for the people walking by.

GJ: Absolutely.

IG: My next question is from Sarah in Louisiana, and she was wondering, how has working on the ITP changed our personal lives? Do Gavin and I see roads and bridges a little differently? Does Brandon see public transit differently, or vice versa?

BL: I think I definitely see the roads and bridges industry differently. You know, I have thought more about roads and bridges and traffic lights and stops when I'm out on the road than I ever have before. Thinking about all the different things that we've talked about on the ITP and thinking about, you know, my experiences when on the road, whether it's in a car or via public transit, and just thinking about how really the public transit industry and the roads and bridges industry, our magazines connect so, I guess, intertogether more so than I thought before we started this podcast.

GJ: That's interesting, ain't it? So you see our brand a little bit, our magazine, our industry a little bit differently, and I have to say that I feel the same way. I was reading Mass Transit before we started the podcast but not on a regular basis. Now, I follow it much more closely and learn more from your interviews, so I guess there's that, but from the podcast perspective, I think I've gotten, this may shock you, a little bit less afraid of our impending AI apocalypse. From starting this podcast and listening to people who are, you know, just working with technology every day to make our roads and bridges construction smoother, more efficient and safer and hearing Brandon's interviews about how technology can help make mass transportation more accessible and also safer really gives me a lot of hope, but, I mean, I still fear but not as much.

IG: That's good. Well, working at Roads and Bridges has definitely affected my personal life. The thing that sticks out the most is, I wrote a piece on cranes and crane booms, and now every time I see a crane, either in person or in the background of a movie, I have to fight the urge to tell whoever is with me, ‘This is this type of crane boom. That's a lattice boom’, and if that happens, the person often very nicely goes, ‘Uh-huh’, and I think that's going to keep happening as I work on the ITP and on Roads and Bridges. There's going to be things that my brain is going to send an intrusive thought that you have to tell this person what that is even if they don't care about it.

GJ: I think that's very common in our industry. We used to have a salesperson on Roads and Bridges who would, like if he was driving with his family, he would slow down near construction sites and start pointing out the equipment.

BL: That's cool.

GJ: And say, ‘Oh, there's that. There's that. There's that’. He did it kind of just to troll his teenage kids.

BL: Yeah, it's sort of similar like that for transit in the rail industry, where rail is very technical, right?! Because you have all these parts of like, the train, like what, the wheel, the cross ties, the balance, everything that goes into rail, and I know you rail professionals out there are listening to this podcast. You guys, your knowledge is amazing and the people that work on that side of the industry, they really know what they're talking about.

IG: Alright, and so our last question is from Alex from New York City, and they sent a hometown story. They were wondering if we had heard about the no pants subway ride movement. I had not. Had either of you heard of it?

BL: I mean, I don't want to be disrespectful to the wonderful city of New York, but this sounds like a New York City story.

IG: So it is an annual event. The no pants subway ride. It was created Improv. Everywhere in 2002. It ran until 2020. I guess they have not revived it, but I would love to see it again. It happened every January in New York City. At...

GJ: January?

IG: Yes.

GJ: January? Oh my God, what?

BL: Yeah, really, what?

IG: The idea behind the no pants subway ride is simple. Random people board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. They're not fully nude, don't worry, they're wearing underwear, and in the videos I saw, it was a lot of boxers, so all those private bits are being covered.

BL: Now here's a question. Are they like- they're not shirtless?

IG: No, they're wearing everything else.

BL: Okay.

IG: Winter coats, the hat, the scarf, the gloves, the only thing they're missing is pants.

BL: Okay.

IG: They're in their underwear, and so the first ride in 2002, it was just seven people who did it. They were pantsless for seven consecutive stops. People asked what was up. They said, ‘Oh, I just forgot my pants’. For this first couple of years, someone would come on the stop after the eighth stop and sell pants for one dollar. This movement has gone international. So after the first couple of years, it was featured on a bunch of different programs, ABC News, This American Life, Letterman made jokes about it, and hundreds of people started participating in 2008 in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and then even in Adelaide, Australia. At the point where it fizzled out in 2020, we had Tokyo, we had St. Petersburg, we had Moscow. Over 25 countries had participated, and they didn't get in too much trouble with the law. Some passengers would be asked what they were doing by police, and police in 2006 did stop a subway ride in New York, but they had nothing to charge them on. It's not illegal to wear your underwear in public.

GJ: Okay, so let's bring this full circle. So New York City's subway system each day carries roughly seven million people through the five boroughs, and these people in the middle of January, where other people are just trying to go to work, are on the subway, which are packed. Seven million people, they're packed with no pants on. That is one of many reasons why I do not live in New York City.

BL: Well, I mean, theoretically, if you're all packed together, body heat keeps you warm.

IG: You'll be warm.

GJ: Yeah, that's right. Can you just imagine like you're late for work, and you're just like, ‘I got to get on a subway right now’. It's packed. You just jump on one, squeeze in, and all of a sudden you're like, ‘Argh, why is no one wearing pants on in the subway?’ You know, it's just like a long sigh. You go, ‘I got to get out of the city’. 

BL: Not that my brother would do this, but I think he could survive doing it because he wears shorts in 20 degree weather.

GJ: Okay, alright.

IG: In theory, this sounds fun, but I definitely might change my mind if I am on the subway, and I have someone's, you know, heart print boxers on my face.

BL: Yes.

GJ: Yeah. Alright, any other emails?

IG: That's the best ones I pulled out.

GJ: Okay.

IG: So I'm going to plug again. Send us emails. Tell us your favorite kooky little trivia or history tidbit. Tell us what you've been following in the news or send us your favorite piece of infrastructure tech.

GJ: Yeah, absolutely. Alright, well, I think that does it for today's program. Let me thank you, the listener, for making it this far. We got to thank our parent company, Endeavor B2B, and we want to thank Ian Rosam and Joey LouAllen from Bentley Systems, and, well, that's all. We will see you next week when we have another edition of the Infrastructure Technology Podcast. Goodbye.