The real world is full of buildings, roads, pipes, and power lines — and no one fully knows where they all are or what condition they're in. This node is software that does one thing: it "turns the real world into data," then assembles it into a living 3D model of a building and of an entire city — so the people who design, build, and maintain infrastructure can work on a digital copy before they touch the real thing.
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News & notes movingGeospatial, BIM & Urban Digital Twin
Geospatial, BIM & Urban Digital Twin▲
Bentley Systems Declares US$0.07 Dividend and Opens Philadelphia Tech Hub
Bentley Systems, Incorporated declared a US$0.07 per share cash dividend for the third quarter of 2026, payable on September 29 to stockholders of record as of September 22. The company also opened a new technology hub in Philadelphia's historic Curtis Center, deepening its integration of Cesium's 3D geospatial engine with the iTwin Platform and positioning the city as a center for 3D digital twins and open-source geospatial innovation. The hub builds on Bentley's Cesium acquisition and anchors Cesium's 3D geospatial capabilities inside the iTwin Platform, supporting the company's push for more digital twin and asset analytics work. Bentley Systems' narrative projects $2.1 billion revenue and $508.3 million earnings by 2029, requiring 11.3% yearly revenue growth and about a $226 million earnings increase from $281.9 million. The most pessimistic analysts instead expect only about US$2.2 billion revenue and US$489.4 million earnings by 2029, citing risks from open standards and lower cost rivals.
Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Announces Plan to Bring Autonomous Driving Systems into Society by 2028
Akio Sato, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said at a press conference in Tokyo on the 17th that the association aims to put core autonomous driving systems into practical use in some regions by 2028. He stressed the need for public-private cooperation to achieve this, and said the association will move quickly to build an information control platform that integrates systems for remotely monitoring autonomous vehicles and mechanisms for cars to receive pedestrian information from sensors and cameras on roads. Sato argued that eliminating traffic deaths and improving convenience should go hand in hand, and said the pace of development will be accelerated. The public and private sectors will also consider creating a framework to provide relief for victims and conduct accident investigations when accidents occur.
MemryX and Lenovo Sign MOU to Expand Sovereign Edge AI in Saudi Arabia
MemryX has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lenovo to expand the deployment of sovereign edge AI solutions across Saudi Arabia. The agreement builds on joint platform deployments already operating in the Kingdom and establishes a framework for the two companies to pursue additional opportunities across infrastructure, industrial operations, smart cities and video management, supporting Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. The joint platform combines the Lenovo ThinkEdge SE455 V3 rugged edge server with the MemryX Cascade 100P AI accelerator to process video and sensor data on site, reducing latency and limiting reliance on centralized, power- and cooling-intensive AI infrastructure. The platform is already operating in large-scale infrastructure programs in Saudi Arabia, with one deployment delivering real-time construction safety analytics including personal protective equipment compliance and site safety event detection, and a second running compliance and site-monitoring workloads in a port environment across the operator's existing camera infrastructure. Under the MOU, Lenovo and MemryX will expand customer deployments in Saudi Arabia, validate the platform through a Lenovo Center of Excellence, develop additional solutions through Lenovo AI Innovation, and explore rack-scale server configurations for computer vision inference, supporting potential regional and global go-to-market opportunities.
Data centre electricity demand set at 8.8 gigawatts in draft PDP2026
The Ministry of Energy has included data centre electricity demand of 8.8 gigawatts in the draft national power development plan, or PDP 2026, after finding that applications for electricity from data centre operators totalled as much as 35 gigawatts, close to the country's peak electricity demand of 40 gigawatts. Pongpol Yodmuangcharoen, a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy, said at Gastech 2026 that these applications represent artificial demand, because investors tend to request high reserve quotas and backup power supplies. The draft plan also changes the criterion for measuring power security from the reserve generation margin to the loss of load expectation, or LOLE, and accommodates clean energy under the Solar Rooftop policy for 1 million households, which will add more than 5,000 megawatts of generating capacity. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand must upgrade the grid into a two-way system with a budget of about 1 billion US dollars, or roughly 35 billion baht, especially in the Eastern Economic Corridor, or EEC, alongside integrating data among the Provincial Electricity Authority, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Energy Regulatory Commission to create a real-time master data network, and enforcing grid connection requirements, or the Grid Code, so that data centres manage themselves before shifting the burden onto the public grid.
Micware and ESRI Japan Form Business Alliance on Spatial Data Infrastructure
Micware has entered into a business alliance with ESRI Japan to develop and commercialize spatial information infrastructure that can continuously capture and analyze changes in the physical world, with applications spanning cities, mobility, roads, and infrastructure. Under the agreement, Micware will provide technology that collects location and video data, while ESRI Japan will use its ArcGIS platform to organize, display, and analyze the information. The two companies will also work on digital models of cities and solutions that use data from vehicles to monitor road conditions, traffic, and surrounding areas. The partnership is part of Micware's DynaPlanet-PF spatial intelligence strategy, and Micware established Micware Spacia on September 1 to expand its spatial intelligence business. No financial terms, contract value, revenue contribution, or earnings impact was disclosed, and ESRI Japan, which participated in Micware's May 14 IPO and acquired Micware's American depositary shares, did not disclose the value of that investment.
Government launches One Map for water, combining early-warning data from 4 agencies into a single map
Professor Dr. Yodchanan Wongsawat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, together with Ms. Buntida Somchai, Deputy Minister of Digital Economy and Society, jointly presided over the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, between four key agencies to accelerate the creation of a One Map for water on 15 September 2026 at Room Naree 2, Naree Samosorn Building, Government House. The collaboration stemmed from a field visit to handle flood situations in Nan Province, which found that early-warning data was still scattered and inconsistent among agencies, causing delays in decision-making. Under this MOU, the Thai Meteorological Department is responsible for issuing official warnings for storms and heavy rain, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency supports satellite imagery and geoinformatics data, the Hydro-Informatics Institute supports water level and volume data along with 24-48 hour advance assessments of rain watch areas, and the Big Data Institute develops analysis systems and dashboards applying artificial intelligence. All data will be gathered into the National Water Data Warehouse, and the public can now follow the situation through a centralized warning dashboard at the website www.thaiwater.net/new4all.
Xiangshan Shares to Acquire Wuluo Smart for 800 Million Yuan, Adding AI Computing Power Business
Xiangshan Shares announced after market close on September 14 that it plans to acquire 100% equity of Zhejiang Wuluo Smart City Technology Co., Ltd. through a combination of share issuance and cash payment, and to raise supporting funds, with the total transaction consideration tentatively set at 800 million yuan. Upon completion of this transaction, the company will add an AI computing power equipment business to its existing auto parts business, forming a dual-engine structure of auto parts plus AI computing power. According to the plan, the company intends to issue shares and pay cash to Ningbo Genxi, Zhejiang Qintong, Zhiyan Xinhe, Wenzhou Qunhong, Ruisheng Intelligent, and Wang Ling to purchase their combined 100% equity in Wuluo Smart, with consideration paid to Ningbo Genxi, Zhejiang Qintong, Zhiyan Xinhe, and Wenzhou Qunhong through share issuance and cash, and consideration paid to Ruisheng Intelligent and Wang Ling through cash only. The issue price for the shares to be issued for this asset purchase is 35 yuan per share. The company also plans to issue shares through a book-building process to no more than 35 qualified specific investors to raise supporting funds, with the number of shares to be issued not exceeding 30% of the company's total share capital before this restructuring, and the total supporting funds raised not exceeding 100% of the transaction price for the asset purchase paid by share issuance. Wuluo Smart is mainly engaged in the research, development, production, and sales of AI computing power equipment and products, covering computing acceleration cards, AI servers, integrated storage and computing machines, and computing clusters. In a statement disclosed the same day, the company said that in the 20 trading days before the suspension, from August 4 to August 31, 2026, its share price rose from 39.06 yuan to 53.00 yuan, a cumulative increase of 35.69%. After excluding the impact of the broader market, the change was 34.76%, and after excluding the impact of the same industry sector, it was 36.97%, all exceeding 20%. The company said it has completed registration of insiders with knowledge of inside information and prepared a transaction process memorandum.
Nokia launches Cognitive Operations AI and edge platform for mining, public safety and defense
Nokia has launched Cognitive Operations, a new commercially available platform that unifies mission-critical communications, accelerated edge computing and operational AI in a single field-deployable system, initially targeting the mining, public safety and defense markets. The platform gives operational teams real-time site and asset intelligence through AI-agentic assistance, a live 3D digital twin of operations, real-time video analytics, predictive maintenance and autonomous safety monitoring, and it can be deployed on-premises or hosted on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. At the edge of the platform sits Nokia's Cognitive Edge Node, a rugged network and edge compute platform with embedded on-device GPU-accelerated computing that brings intelligence to field-deployed vehicles and remote locations; Nokia collaborated with Rajant to integrate its InstaMesh technology directly into the Cognitive Edge Node. Cognitive Operations launches with three vertical applications: CO for mining, its flagship product for the mining industry, available on-premises and on-cloud through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace; CO for emergency services, which introduces the Vehicle as a Node concept so that police cars, fire trucks and ambulances self-organize into a distributed field intelligence network; and CO for defense, which extends the platform to the battlefield edge for sensor fusion, video analytics and threat detection across 5G, tactical radio and satellite. Lelio Di Martino, General Manager of Cognitive Operations for Nokia, said the launch extends AI directly into the field, and Ildefonso de la Cruz Morales, Senior Principal Analyst at Omdia, said the convergence of AI, edge computing and mission-critical communications is becoming a key requirement for organizations seeking to improve operational performance and worker safety.
Seoul to Invest 86.1 Trillion Won in 100 Projects to Reach World's Top 3 Cities by 2030
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced that Seoul plans to invest 86.1 trillion won, or 64.3 billion US dollars, in 100 major projects to raise the city's competitiveness into the world's top 3 by 2030. These initiatives focus on improving residents' quality of life and adopting new technologies, such as allocating exercise spaces within a 10-minute walk from home, granting access to artificial intelligence services to 500,000 young people, and increasing the number of driverless buses to 500 by 2030 from 16 currently. In real estate, Seoul aims to begin construction of 310,000 housing units by 2031 through rapid integrated planning, while pushing to supply 130,000 units of public housing to counter surging property prices. Oh has been pushing to raise Seoul's ranking since winning the local election on June 3, which secured him a third consecutive term as Seoul mayor and his fifth term in the office overall. Seoul currently ranks sixth in the 2025 Global Power City Index by the Mori Memorial Foundation of Japan, behind London, Tokyo, New York, Paris and Singapore. The index evaluates cities on six key indicators: economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment and accessibility.
CivilGrid Raises $26M Series A to Modernize U.S. Infrastructure
CivilGrid, a civil design platform that consolidates subsurface and regulatory data for infrastructure projects, announced a $26 million Series A financing round led by Spark Capital, with participation from Energy Impact Partners, Afore Capital, A*, Ford Street Ventures, and SNR Ventures. The funding will accelerate national expansion and product development as the U.S. embarks on historic infrastructure investment. CivilGrid's platform helps utilities and engineering firms, including Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Atmos Energy, Mark Thomas, and GHD, de-risk billions in annual project spend. PG&E reported savings of over $60 million in paving conflicts, a 40% reduction in field research, and up to four months faster project timelines since deploying the platform. The company aims to address the 200,000 utility strikes and $30 billion in annual costs caused by legacy data systems, positioning itself as a key player in the $2.2 trillion U.S. construction market.
Securities Times reports that China's urban underground pipeline networks are entering a new round of construction. Building on the national 'six networks' initiative, the country is using intelligent IoT and large AI models to strengthen urban safety and resilience while driving effective investment. The underground utility tunnel in Suzhou Industrial Park has deployed distributed temperature-sensing optical fiber, enabling uninterrupted monitoring across the entire area with temperature accuracy of plus or minus 0.1 degrees Celsius and positioning accuracy of 0.1 meters. Nationwide, 7,700 kilometers of underground utility tunnels have been completed so far. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, about 770,000 kilometers will continue to be built or upgraded. CITIC Securities estimates investment of about 5 trillion yuan, with intelligent sensing equipment gaining an incremental market worth hundreds of billions of yuan. Companies such as Guangge Technology and Hanjia Digital Intelligence are developing AI algorithms and intelligent agents to shift pipeline operation and maintenance from breakdown repairs to early warning of sub-health conditions. Some regions have already set up special purpose vehicle management companies to centrally collect data, and Shanghai has connected pipeline data covering 180,000 kilometers.
China Bester Group Telecom posts H1 revenue of 1.358 billion yuan, with intelligent computing business up 36.87% year on year
China Bester Group Telecom released its 2026 semi-annual report, achieving operating revenue of 1.358 billion yuan in the first half, and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 10.6541 million yuan. Against a backdrop of pressure on its traditional communications business, the intelligent computing business delivered a standout performance, achieving operating revenue of 407 million yuan, up 36.87% year on year, with its share of overall revenue continuing to rise and making it one of the company's core growth segments. The company focused on key customer demand to expand intelligent computing clusters, and relied on its self-developed MaaS platform to provide differentiated token services. In smart city and other businesses, the company won in succession the EPC general contracting project for the first phase of mechanical and electrical new construction of DC8 at China Unicom's Hohhot cloud data base, and the Huayun intelligent computing hub center project in Dianjun District, Yichang, Hubei. In addition, the company invested 40 million yuan to participate in establishing the Lianbang Qiyuan venture capital fund, which has already begun operations, and jointly built an embodied intelligence joint research and development center with Wuhan University of Technology, while also completing investments in multiple AI industry chain projects including StepFun, Tsingmicro and ADA Space.
3D Mapping and Modeling Market Forecast to Hit $29.2 Billion by 2031
The global 3D mapping and modeling market is projected to reach $29.2 billion by 2031, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 10.6% from an estimated $17.63 billion in 2026, according to a new report from ResearchAndMarkets.com. Digital twin software is expected to be the fastest-growing segment, driven by infrastructure digitalization and integration with BIM, GIS, LiDAR, and reality capture. Cloud deployment is anticipated to lead the market in 2026 as organizations adopt scalable, connected geospatial workflows. North America is forecast to hold the largest market share, while Asia Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing region due to rapid urbanization and infrastructure investment. Key drivers include expanding digital twin deployments, growing UAV-based reality capture, and AI-powered automated feature extraction.
Ouster Q2 Earnings Surpass Expectations on Sensor Growth
Ouster reported a narrower-than-expected second-quarter loss and record sensor shipments. The company posted a loss of 26 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a 31-cent loss, while revenues of $55 million rose 56% year over year and exceeded the $51 million consensus. Ouster shipped more than 17,000 lidar and camera sensors during the quarter, a company record, driven by industrial and smart infrastructure demand. GAAP gross margin expanded to 49% from 45% a year earlier, though a one-time refund boosted the figure by about 1,000 basis points. For the third quarter, Ouster guided for revenues between $54.5 million and $57.5 million.
AMATA brings Chinese high-tech investors to Vietnam, advancing Halong and Phu Tho smart cities
Amata Corporation led a delegation of high-tech investors from China to meet with Vietnamese government executives and provincial governors, aiming to advance smart city and intelligent industrial estate projects in strategic areas. Chief Executive Officer Vikrom Kromadit disclosed that he held discussions with Mr. Quan Manh Cuong, a member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of the Quang Ninh Provincial Party Committee, to drive the Amata City Halong project toward becoming an environmentally friendly high-tech industrial hub. The delegation also met with Ho Chi Minh City leaders, joined by Mrs. Urawadee Sriphiromya, Thai Ambassador to Vietnam, to expand economic cooperation under the opportunity of the 50th anniversary of Thai-Vietnamese diplomatic relations. In addition, the group presented a concept for developing a future city in Phu Tho province, integrating a smart city, industrial estate, and modern service center to accommodate investment in data centers and high-tech industries, while requesting provincial support for electricity, water, telecommunications, and digital network infrastructure. This trip reflects Amata's long-term commitment to expanding investment in Vietnam and fostering economic cooperation among Thailand, China, and Vietnam.
Zhiyang Innovation Defines AI Plus Industry Strategic Path, Six Major Technology Platforms Support Multi-Industry Expansion
Zhiyang Innovation has defined its AI plus industry strategic path during an investor communication event, with the power sector as its foundation and water conservancy and rail transit as its second and third growth curves. The company has established six core technology platforms: a one-stop AI platform, a big data and digital twin platform, the Zhiyang Industrial Large Model Technology Platform, an AI agent technology platform, an intelligent terminal technology platform, and an embodied intelligent drone technology platform. Its business has expanded from the power sector to water conservancy, rail transit, new energy, emergency management, geological safety monitoring, and other fields. Management stated that in China, average annual investment in water conservancy has exceeded one trillion yuan over the past three years, while annual investment in rail transit has reached hundreds of billions of yuan, creating sustained growth opportunities for the company. During the event, the company demonstrated applications such as ultra-high voltage inspection and autonomous reservoir flow measurement, and organized a field visit to the Taihe Reservoir to inspect smart water conservancy solutions.
PaveX receives $305,000 NSF grant to automate road condition assessments
PaveX, a Purdue University-related startup, has received a $305,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation to develop its AI-driven road condition assessment technology. The 18-month project will advance the company's patent-pending, vehicle-mounted sensing approach that automates route planning and distress detection, aiming to help agencies plan repairs sooner and more efficiently. CEO and founder Mohammad Jahanshahi said the system will reduce manual bottlenecks and improve detection reliability through a Bayesian multiframe data fusion framework. Since January 2025, PaveX has surveyed over 6,200 miles of roads across five states. The NSF-funded effort is a step toward scaling the technology for widespread use, with future potential integration into autonomous vehicles for continuous infrastructure monitoring.
EECiti attracts over a hundred investors interested in PPP for smart city
The EEC Business Center and Smart Livable New City project, known as EECiti, has drawn interest from more than 100 leading Thai and international investors and entrepreneurs at a private sector consultation seminar organized by the Eastern Economic Corridor Office, or EECO. Participants expressed confidence in the project's potential and interest in co-investing through a public-private partnership model. EECO will incorporate the feedback to refine project details and prepare to select private partners according to the scheduled timeline in 2028. Key recommendations include developing infrastructure in phases, creating demand to support investment, and providing green financial support.
Donghua Software Plans to Raise 2.029 Billion Yuan to Boost AI Computing Power
Donghua Software has disclosed its 2026 private placement plan, proposing to issue up to 962 million shares to no more than 35 specific investors, raising total proceeds of no more than 2.029 billion yuan. The largest single project is the Donghua Yunzun Intelligent Computing Center construction project, with a planned investment of 682 million yuan to build a high-performance intelligent computing cluster in Qingdao. The remaining funds will be directed toward three industry verticals — urban AI housing and construction, digital finance AI, and digital twin water network AI — as well as supplementing working capital. The company also disclosed that its controlling shareholder and persons acting in concert have previously cashed out a combined total of over 600 million yuan, and that due to suspected illegal subcontracting, the military procurement website intends to suspend its military-wide procurement qualifications. However, the company stated that the related business accounts for a relatively small proportion and the impact is limited. In 2025, the company's revenue was 12.928 billion yuan, down 2.96 percent year-on-year, and net profit attributable to the parent was 477 million yuan, down 4.49 percent year-on-year. In the first quarter of 2026, revenue was 2.878 billion yuan, down 7.42 percent year-on-year, while net profit attributable to the parent was 61.9598 million yuan, up 12.17 percent year-on-year. This private placement still requires shareholder meeting approval and regulatory clearance.
NVIDIA Expands Toyota Partnership Into AI Factories, Smart Cities, and Robotics
NVIDIA is expanding its partnership with Toyota Motor to supply AI technology for smart cities, traffic intelligence systems, and vehicle manufacturing factories. Toyota will use NVIDIA's AI platforms inside Woven City, its experimental community in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture, and deploy the Omniverse platform to create digital twins of its vehicle assembly lines. The automaker will also use NVIDIA's Isaac robotics platform and Nemotron large language models to accelerate automotive software development. The collaboration builds on a relationship that began in 2017 with autonomous-driving development and expanded last year when Toyota committed to using NVIDIA's Drive AGX Orin platform for upcoming commercial vehicle fleets.
Intermap Partners with NSG UP42 to Expand Elevation Intelligence Access in Saudi Arabia
Intermap Technologies has partnered with NSG UP42, Saudi Arabia's first national Earth observation data platform, to make its elevation intelligence available to users in the Kingdom. Through the NSG UP42 marketplace, customers can now access Intermap's advanced Digital Terrain Models and Digital Surface Models, which provide detailed 3D representations of terrain and surface features for applications such as infrastructure planning, flood risk mapping, urban planning, and environmental assessment. The partnership supports NSG UP42's mission to build a comprehensive Earth observation marketplace while helping users apply reliable terrain intelligence to national development initiatives. The global geospatial intelligence market is projected to grow from $37.13 billion in 2025 to $62.88 billion by 2030, driven by increasing demand for location-based information and AI-supported spatial analysis.
Generative AI in Architecture Market to Reach $8 Billion by 2030
The generative AI in architecture market is projected to grow from $1.47 billion in 2025 to $2.07 billion in 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 40.9%, according to a new 250-page report from ResearchAndMarkets.com. The market is forecast to reach $8 billion by 2030, driven by smart city projects, sustainable building mandates, and breakthroughs in AI-powered design tools. Key trends include algorithmic design automation, AI-assisted concept generation, cloud-based design collaboration, and sustainable design simulation. North America currently leads the market, while Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region. The report covers deployment types, technologies, applications, and end-users across 16 geographies, and profiles major companies such as Microsoft Corporation, NVIDIA Corporation, and Adobe Inc.
AI in Construction Market to Reach $9.48 Billion by 2030
The global AI in construction market is projected to grow from $2.28 billion in 2025 to $9.48 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate of 33.1%. North America led the market in 2025, while Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region during the forecast period. Key drivers include smart city initiatives, demand for cost-optimized construction, and AI-driven site monitoring. Major companies such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Nvidia are investing in AI-powered workflow automation tools, with Nemetschek Group introducing an AI assistant in January 2025. The market's expansion is further supported by large-scale infrastructure projects and increasing sustainability regulations.
Bentley Systems Study Finds Fragmented Data Blocks Infrastructure Resilience Goals
A new study commissioned by Bentley Systems and conducted by Verdantix reveals that more than two-thirds of infrastructure organizations cite fragmented data and disconnected digital systems as their top two technical barriers to improving resilience. The report, released during London Climate Action Week, shows that while over 80% of organizations have mature or developing resilience strategies, many struggle to operationalize them due to technology and data limitations. More than 70% of organizations plan to increase spending on digital twins over the next 24 months, and half already use AI for inspections, with over 40% implementing AI-powered failure prediction. The findings highlight open digital twins as a critical enabler for unifying operational, environmental, and risk data to move from reactive maintenance to predictive insights.