Inspections of linear infrastructure such as roads typically would be done by driving along the pavement with special detection equipment to find debris, cracking and other issues—a method that isn't able to provide a 360° view. Integrating Google Street View will do that, notes Mark Pittman, director of transportation AI at Bentley.

"It gives a complete picture of assets," he says. For example, when a vehicle is driving on a freeway gathering asset information, it might be able to capture damage to the guardrail but not to the pavement below.  

Moreover, since agencies typically already use Street View, they can use previous imagery to compare against the state of the infrastructure more currently. "You can now see something as a point in time," he says. "What if there is a natural disaster event? What did it look like, say, six months ago?" The agency could perform rapid damage assessments, leading to faster rebuilding.

Bittman notes that hiring companies to inspect highways with specialized equipment could cost an average of $300 per mile. Blyncsy's new application could reduce that cost by at least half, he says. "Agencies were already collecting [Street View] images for another purpose," he says. That data, he adds, can be repurposed for decision-making on maintenance, upgrades and potential disaster recovery. Compared to the time it would take to collect data on an agency's road assets—often thousands of miles—the repurposing of existing Google data plus Bentley's data analytics capabilities could also save some 98% in time, he says.

For example, if a state transportation department traditionally needed 10 months to collect and process road system data, the product offering could reduce that to 10 days or less, he says.

"We’ve been able to take that same information to market at half the cost and deliver it in 98% less time, because it’s already been collected. And now, with Google, we have access to exponentially more infrastructure information," he says. 

Partnership Results

The announcement comes after Bentley and Google announced a strategic partnership in October 2024 to integrate Google’s high-quality geospatial content with Bentley’s infrastructure engineering software to improve the way infrastructure is designed, built and operated.

That partnership, Bentley officials said, allows its software users and developers to use Google Maps' geospatial content, including Google’s photorealistic 3D Tiles, for real-world geospatial context and immersive 3D experiences in Bentley's digital workflows.

Google’s Imagery Insights will be generally available in Blyncsy later this year, with an announcement to come, Bittman says. "We will work with a variety of key customers to make sure all their needs and wants are integrated into the product later this year."

Yael Maguire, vice president and general manager for Google Maps Platform and Google Earth, said in the release, “As our strategic partner, Bentley combines industry-leading infrastructure solutions with Google’s leading AI and mapping technologies, like Vertex AI and Street View, to bring powerful analytics to public and private-sector leaders who need mobility insights for making more informed decisions...We have a history of leadership in applying repurposed imagery for roadway maintenance, and the addition of Google's 360-degree imagery and AI will further enhance the value Bentley provides to transportation departments and engineering firms globally."