Customer Spotlight: David Gigliotti Sees Projects Come to Life

I have been in engineering and design for the majority of my professional career. Being a Project Manager in the Utility Engineering Division at The DDS Companies allows me to be involved in almost all phases of a project, from conception through construction and commissioning. This position allows me to work beyond the traditional design/engineer role and lead the development of the projects I am involved with.

The best part of my job is seeing a large group of people, both internal and external, work together to bring a project to a successful completion. I frequently get the opportunity to see these come to life while supporting the reliability of the energy infrastructure for the communities where my family and friends live.

While evaluating options to improve our process for field data collection and project development, I began looking into digital field maps and options for accurate location tracking and data collection. During this process, I tested multiple software and hardware configurations with mixed results. A colleague I had worked with in a previous role had recently undergone a similar evaluation and implemented Eos Arrow receivers across multiple fleets at his company. Based on his recommendation, I tested an Eos receiver myself and paired it with an Apple iPad^® and ArcGIS Collector and was impressed with how well this suited our needs.

I personally use the Arrow GNSS receivers for preliminary planning on natural gas pipelines and other utility infrastructure projects. With these receivers, and the setup I mentioned previously, I am able to have all of my project data available to me in the field, and we can collect point and line features for any proposed structures or existing entities I need, to avoid impacting. The DDS Companies also has several other crews that support our projects using similar setups for tasks such as environmental delineation, utility inspection, and various other field efforts.

On a large project I was working on a few years ago, I was tasked with developing a plan to evaluate replacing 50 miles of an existing pipeline in upstate New York. The field evaluation for this project was one of the first projects on which I was able to use the Arrow Gold^® GNSS receiver, and it involved multiple weeks in the field collecting data to evaluate the entirety of the existing pipeline corridor and all potential route alternatives. Riding side-by-side sport-utility vehicles through miles of a right-of-way in upstate New York — during the peak of fall foliage — on such a high-profile project is something I will not soon forget.

Yes, I really enjoy the 3-in-1 adapter that Eos has developed to attach their receiver right to the back of a tablet. This allows me to carry a light-weight and compact setup for my field efforts, as opposed to the pole-mounted system I initially implemented.

I cannot emphasize enough how extremely supportive Eos resellers have been in both the purchase and implementation of this technology at The DDS Companies. In my opinion, they have gone above and beyond to help with any technical issues we have encountered ensuring the success of our projects.