Our Summer Spotlight series shines a light on the uniqueness of our Dawood team members. Diversity is key, as we all look to excel in a world of possibilities. Today, we share a New England Chapter of Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (NEURISA) “Aha!” moment from Senior Geospatial Specialist Timothy Woodfield, GISP.
A NEURISA Director At-Large, Tim graduated from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) with a bachelors in Environmental Geography.
[portions republished below from July 2022 NEURISA News and website]
1. You enrolled in the CCSU civil engineering program- why the technology shift?
My “Aha” moment has been a driving factor for my career. I had the environmental and GIS background coming out of college and an interest in planning and design. When the opportunity to work at Dawood arose, I jumped right in. I’ve been able to check a lot of my boxes being in the private side of the world working with entities like municipal governments and utilities on new construction projects, infrastructure inspections, asset management, public engagement, and education.
2. Can you cite a marquee project example?
I’m proud to play a role as the lead developer for Dawood’s award-winning Land Management GIS portal, geo-enabling spreadsheet workflows as part of a multi-phased Southern Company Gas Illinois pipeline construction project. The portal encompasses wide-ranging Esri technologies to help make better business decisions (learn more).
3. How do you work with Esri?
Building off Dawood’s Esri business partner relationship, I’m involved with beta testing, troubleshooting new releases, and furthering my education and certification. Our geospatial technologies team is adept at online mapping and web application deployment using the Esri suite. I’ve lead Dawood’s migration to ArcGIS Pro, and am heavily involved with ArcGIS Online web application development, field data collection workflows, and site administration.
4. What excites you about your current role?
I’ve always been a visual and hands-on learner, so being able to share ideas and communicate through maps, models, scenes, and story maps has been very rewarding. I’ve somewhat become the department IT person and “guinea pig tester,” which has been fun.
5. Why NEURISA?
A non-profit GIS organization actively supported by Dawood, NEURISA’s “mission is to advance the effective and appropriate use of GIS and related information technologies to solve challenges throughout the region.” Dawood and NEURISA share similar education and collaboration goals, and as a Connecticut native NEURISA is my logical choice.
6. How does Dawood support NEURISA?
We support NEURISA GIS events throughout the year, sponsor the annual conference, and maintain active board positions. I serve as an At-Large board member and my colleague, Jodie Gosselin, GISP, is Immediate Past-President (learn more).
7. What are your interests outside of work?
I enjoy hiking, mountain biking, sporting events (Go Blue Devils!), and finding new restaurants, and breweries throughout New England.