Bentley Systems Acquires LEGION, Leading Pedestrian Simulation Software

The Year in Infrastructure 2018 Conference–– Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisition of leading pedestrian simulation software provider LEGION, based in London and supporting more than half of the world’s 40 largest transit agencies. The acquisition augments Bentley’s comprehensive modeling environment with collaborative digital workflows to explore and validate comparative simulations of pedestrian traffic scenarios.

LEGION’s pedestrian simulation application offers modeling capabilities of people’s interactions with each other and physical obstacles, and activities, including circulation and evacuations, within public spaces like railway stations, airports, sports arenas, tall buildings, and street level with vehicle interactions. Using LEGION simulation tools in collaborative digital workflows with Bentley’s OpenBuildings Designer (formerly AECOsim Building Designer), architects, engineers and owners can consider pedestrian traffic in their conceptioneering of design alternatives. The newly announced OpenBuildings Station Designer will enable collaborative digital workflows to fully model pedestrian activities and journeys to and from trains, platforms, and through stations.

Santanu Das, senior vice president of design engineering for Bentley Systems, said, “Because pedestrian traffic and capacity are major concerns for infrastructure planning and operations, collaborative digital workflows for pedestrian simulation need to be prioritized during design. Taking advantage of LEGION’s innovative pedestrian modeling capabilities throughout Bentley’s comprehensive modeling environment will enable better decisions to improve pedestrian circulation, throughput, and overall safety. That’s a great example of the collaborative digital workflows that our open applications, such as OpenBuildings, uniquely support.”

LEGION founder, Douglas Connor, said, “Pedestrian flows should be considered fundamental design criteria for infrastructure assets like train stations or airports which are intrinsically meant to serve the needs of pedestrians. We’re excited to join with Bentley to provide designers, engineers, and owners with pedestrian simulation applications that are integrated with market leading design modeling offerings. Next, we can advance LEGION’s “Science in Motion” vision to incorporate pedestrian simulation quite cohesively—from the strategic and capital planning of an infrastructure project, throughout its design, subsequent retrofits, and into asset operations.”

Samya Ghosh, head-urban space; regional director, transportation (Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa) for premier, fully integrated global infrastructure firm AECOM, said, “The urban space team of AECOM, based in the UK, has been using LEGION software for various crowd modeling projects for more than 10 years—in numerous national and international projects. The crowd modeling is primarily undertaken to provide an evidence base for wider evaluation of existing and proposed rail infrastructure, public realm, sports venue and major event planning, and design or refurbishment of large institutions. The LEGION software is widely accepted among clients for pedestrian micro-simulation modeling which our professionals use to analyze and inform designs and masterplans. In our recent projects, it has been increasingly important to integrate the pedestrian modeling with BIM and in this respect, I consider the merger of Bentley and LEGION will open up a huge potential.”

About LEGION

Founded in 1997, LEGION is a world-leading developer of pedestrian simulation software. The scientifically validated software accurately simulates and analyzes people’s step-by-step journey through rail/metro stations, stadia, shopping malls and airports. Designers and owners use it to model, test and deliver operational, commercial, footfall, wayfinding, crowd management, and safety strategies. LEGION simulation is based on extensive research of people’s behavior in real contexts. As it microscopically accounts for individual decision making, crowd formation and patterns of movement emerge naturally. More about LEGION.

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2012. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. Bentley shares transact by invitation on the NASDAQ Private Market; strategic partner Siemens AG has accumulated a non-voting minority stake. www.bentley.com

Caption and Image:

LEGION’s pedestrian simulation applications offer modeling for scenarios such as interaction of pedestrians with each other and with physical obstacles, circulation and evacuations within public spaces like railway stations, airports, sports arenas, and tall buildings, and pedestrian and vehicle interactions.

Bentley, the Bentley logo, AECOsim Building Designer, AssetWise, LEGION, MicroStation, OpenBuildings Designer, OpenBuildings Station Designer, and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

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