EarthCam 4D brings digital twins to life

EarthCam uses 4D models to directly contrast against real-world progress at any point throughout the construction timeline

EarthCam has released EarthCam 4D, a tool that allows virtual design and construction (VDC) teams to overlay and sync live imagery with their corresponding digital twins.

Built on the Bentley iTwin platform, EarthCam 4D augments Bentley Systems’ SYNCHRO 4D models with high-resolution photos from multiple cameras throughout the job site, overlaid in precise alignment. Viewers can zoom in and out, and the associated live images remain synched. 

“Digital twins are radically increasing productivity in construction,” said Brian Cury, CEO and founder of EarthCam. “Thanks to Bentley iTwin, we’re able to merge the highest-resolution imagery from our cameras to SYNCHRO 4D models, and build valuable applications to increase our clients ROI.

“The partnership between EarthCam and Bentley is bringing construction digital twins to life by simplifying the visual communication of project status to all stakeholders. Now anyone can compare what is happening on the job site to what was planned virtually within a simple web viewer powered by Bentley’s iTwin technology.”

Michal D. Wojtak, Mortenson’s integrated construction director for sports and entertainment, said, “EarthCam 4D is a great and quick tool to help communicate project schedules with our customers, trade partners and public. The ability to easily compare current and future states of work is valuable to project leadership teams,” he said.

Rich Humphrey, vice president of construction at Bentley Systems, added that “by mixing 4D models from SYNCHRO with EarthCam’s reality models, all stakeholders on the project can quickly see the progress of the project, identify issues and keep the project on time and on budget from anywhere.”

EarthCam 4D is the first solution that fully synchronizes time-sequenced images to 4D planning models - stakeholders no longer need multiple software interfaces and different stored image sources to access this critical comparative information, the company said.