Customer Spotlight: Henry Hartnell Brings High-Accuracy GNSS to the Main Stage

After a decade of working as a freelance contractor in the film and music-festival industries, Henry Hartnell became the headliner of a new career in high-accuracy mapping. While at a music festival, Henry ran into a geographic information systems (GIS) professor who would transform his future. After enrolling in GIS at Rio Hondo College, Henry dove into the possibility of combining high-accuracy mapping with live-event production. In 2025, he became a contract GIS specialist for Do LaB, an event services provider that consults on the five-day festival for arts and music in Buena Vista Lake, California. At Do LaB, Henry leverages an Arrow Gold^® global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) receiver from Eos Positioning Systems^® alongside Esri’s ArcGIS^® Field Maps to improve the entire pre-festival setup process, improving both efficiency and safety.

Keep reading to learn how Henry combines two passions: music and maps.

1. Why are you passionate about your job?

I have enjoyed working in the festival space for over a decade, and since discovering that GIS could be used in the festival space, I’ve sought how to combine the two in my career. At that time, GIS was already being used by some companies to optimize festival ground operations by cutting the time it takes to construct temporary structures. Now, I’m a part of that process. I help my team map critical festival components before they are built, and we use the Eos Arrow Gold GNSS receiver with ArcGIS Field Maps to do that. The technology allows us to streamline construction for a variety of teams before setup.

2. How did you first find out about Eos Positioning Systems’ GNSS products?

After being honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2009, I attended Rio Hondo College. In 2011, I began freelancing in film production by serving as a production assistant, second assistant director, and in other roles. By 2014, I had started working at music festivals in various production and event-logistics roles.

About a decade later, in October 2023, I met Rio Hondo College Professor Warren Roberts, who introduced me to GIS. As a result, I enrolled in his classes, and in May 2024, Professor Roberts invited me to volunteer as a high-accuracy field mapper at the Lightning in a Bottle festival. There, I was introduced to Esri’s ArcGIS Field Maps and Eos GNSS receivers. Prior to this, I had only classroom GIS experience. The following year, Do LaB invited me back to work as a contractor on their city planning team for the festival. The 2025 Lightning in a Bottle festival marked my second time using ArcGIS Field Maps and the Eos Arrow Gold, so while I am still learning, this time I had much better proficiency.

3. What do you use Eos GNSS products for?

We use the Arrow Gold with ArcGIS Field Maps to map out the placement of various essential festival components before construction begins. My team and I go to the grounds with the Arrow Gold and ArcGIS Field Maps, and we identify the exact locations where various components — such as stages, bathrooms, art installations, vendor kiosks, fencing, and more — need to be set up. We not only map these locations with high accuracy but also mark their locations on the ground with color-coordinated flags. This helps the construction teams know exactly where to set up each component. The accuracy of the location data from the Arrow Gold is remarkable.

We also map existing water mains and electrical lines so that the teams can avoid hitting them during construction. Having these accurate, digital maps reduces everyone’s guesswork, allows us to lay out construction faster, and improves our layout precision. It’s a complete game changer for our industry.

4. Do you have a favorite experience or memory from your projects with Eos hardware?

Witnessing everyone’s amazement at the accuracy of the Arrow Gold and the real-time mapping in ArcGIS Field Maps was gratifying. At one point, my teammate paused to say, “Wow, this is done already?” We’re probably cutting our time in half with high-accuracy GIS.

5. Do you have a favorite feature of Eos GNSS receivers?

Well, I’m a practical field guy, so seeing the GNSS status go from “Float” to “Fixed” is always pure joy. It’s like I’m a racecar driver seeing the light change from red to green.

Other than that, I enjoy seeing the reactions of fellow festival workers who want to know more about what I’m doing. I get to show them all the GNSS metadata in Eos Tools Pro. It’s great to see a positive response to the technology from people with a variety of expertise areas.