By Rob Painter, CEO, Trimble
On May 10, 1869, railroad executives drove the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah—just up the road from where Trimble held the Innovate 2025 User Conference for customers using our asset lifecycle management solutions. The ceremony ended construction of the first transcontinental railroad and began a new era of connectivity, communities and commerce. The true achievement wasn’t just the track, but the new opportunities to move and connect people and information.
I began my welcome remarks at Innovate 2025 with that story, because that same spirit drives what Trimble does today and how we work together with municipalities, DOTs, utilities, universities, airports, healthcare systems and other owners of public and private assets. These modern stewards of critical infrastructure are challenged to do more with less, modernize aging assets, strengthen resilience and keep teams safe. The question is how we evolve, connect and collaborate to meet the moment.
From purpose-built to platform: the Trimble Connect and Scale strategy
For 47 years, Trimble has delivered purpose-built solutions for the people who design, build, operate and maintain the world around us. Today, we’re executing our Connect and Scale strategy—integrating data, workflows and intelligence across our portfolio to create open technology ecosystems that unlock productivity and confidence at every turn.
That’s why we brought together capabilities many of our users in the asset lifecycle management sector have long relied on—e-Builder, Cityworks and AgileAssets—into Trimble Unity, the only end-to-end software suite for capital program and asset management. The Trimble Unity suite helps owners reduce risk, improve visibility and lower total cost of ownership while giving every team the tools to act faster, safer and with data-driven insight.
More than 1,000 infrastructure asset owners and managers from North America attended Innovate 2025. We announced advances across the Trimble Unity suite, including new data analysis capabilities driven by artificial intelligence (AI), new integrations with project management systems and the latest GIS-centric mapping and asset tracking capabilities. The conference also presented unique opportunities for users, Trimble experts and more than 200 representatives from Trimble service and technology partners to collaborate and explore how to optimize technology and digital workflows.
At Innovate, I touched on three specific stories of progress. These are just a few of the many examples of how this formula of technology, partnership and innovative spirit is paying big dividends.
1) Caltrans: Connected data for safer, smarter decisions
Assessing pavement across 52,000+ lane miles is no small task. Traditional manual surveys are prohibitively time consuming and labor intensive. The data can be subjective, and the process exposes crews to safety risks. Caltrans—the California Department of Transportation—is connecting mobile mapping, survey-grade data collection and AI-enabled analytics into a single workflow, turning field data into actionable insights. The impact: More miles inspected in far less time, more accurate identification of pavement distresses, faster repairs and less worker exposure to traffic hazards. When data is connected, AI becomes a true force multiplier.
2) Swire Properties (Miami): Connected workflows reduce risk
On the redevelopment of the iconic Mandarin Oriental hotel site, Miami-based Swire Properties faced a challenge familiar to every owner: thousands of RFIs and submittals flowing between contractor and owner systems. By integrating the contractor’s system with Trimble Unity Construct, Swire eliminates duplicate data entry, improves data fidelity and accelerates reviews. Connected project delivery replaces siloed handoffs with a single source of truth to drive substantial time and cost savings and reduce downstream risk.
3) Minnesota DOT: Connected ecosystems that scale
Modern programs depend on interoperability. The Minnesota Department of Transportation “Minnesota Nice Connect Project” standardizes how asset information flows from design (Bentley) to construction (Trimble Connect as-builts) to operations (Trimble AgileAssets and Esri). By mapping common data across platforms, MnDOT is reducing manual transfer, improving transparency and maximizing the long-term value of digital delivery for taxpayers. This is what an open ecosystem looks like in practice.
Change takes courage, but it doesn’t have to be daunting or come all at once. Small, consistent improvements add up. If we can be just one percent better every day, the compounding impact over a year is profound. Start with one connected process, one interoperable handoff or one AI-assisted workflow. Then build from there.
The Transcontinental Railroad was audacious but it succeeded through a public-private partnership. Visionaries, builders and the government all worked together. Today’s infrastructure challenges are no different. Trimble is committed to being a trusted partner each step of the way: connecting office and field, Trimble and non-Trimble systems and people and data across every phase of the asset lifecycle.
Let’s build what comes next—together.
