When will Bentley settle on consistent data standards between the various updates of OpenRoads?
Our agency is in the early stages of implementing OpenRoads and we have been unable to take advantage of some of the tools (e.g., civil cells) developed by other users because they are using a newer version than we are. It's unreasonable to expect all users to move to the latest update at the same time. In addition to our in-house engineers we work with a number of consultants, most of whom have other clients. It can't be economical for those consultants to maintain multiple computers with different versions installed in order to accommodate the specific needs of their various clients. We are limited in our ability collaborate with other agencies in developing new tools and workflows when we can't share files.
Bentley's data consistency over the years has been one of its great strengths. In the 25 years I've been working with this software, there have been two .dgn file formats. I can still export a .dgn file that can be read and edited in a 20-year old version of MicroStation. While there have been several versions of surfaces in InRoads over that time, I can save to all but the oldest from SS2. Now, I can't share my work with someone who is three months behind me.