.png?width=185&height=175&name=WGI%20Icon_Green%20(1).png)
WGI is proud to announce that the firm has been recognized with the Outstanding Special Project Award at the 2026 ACEC Florida Engineering Excellence Awards for our work supporting the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) Outdoor Advertising (ODA) Program.
Presented to transportation-related projects that demonstrate innovation, efficiency, and meaningful community impact, the Outstanding Special Project Award recognizes initiatives that improve operations, reduce impacts, enhance mobility, and advance the future of infrastructure delivery.
This recognition highlights WGI’s innovative use of lidar, geospatial technology, artificial intelligence, and data-driven analysis to modernize outdoor advertising compliance and corridor management across the state of Florida.
Through a five-year partnership with FDOT, WGI supports statewide outdoor advertising inventory management, permitting, compliance reviews, and field inspections. Since the beginning of the contract, more than 60 WGI associates have contributed to the effort statewide.
To date, WGI has:
The technology enables WGI to:
By combining engineering, planning, and geospatial expertise, WGI is helping preserve the visual integrity of Florida’s transportation corridors while ensuring outdoor advertising infrastructure remains functional, compliant, and efficiently managed.
Supporting Florida’s Transportation Corridors
Florida’s Outdoor Advertising Program plays a critical role in maintaining safe, organized, and visually appealing transportation corridors throughout the state. Rooted in the vision established by the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, the program helps balance commercial communication with scenic preservation by regulating billboard size, spacing, lighting, and placement along roadways.
- Documented more than 9,500 billboard structures statewide
- Collected over 13,000 miles of terrestrial mobile lidar data
- Completed more than 120 permit-related field visits
- Processed over 100 terabytes of geospatial and imaging data
Transforming Compliance Through Technology
At the core of the project is WGI’s use of advanced lidar and mobile imaging technology to capture highly detailed, survey-grade data on billboard structures and surrounding roadway environments. Using Riegl mobile lidar systems paired with high-resolution 360-degree imaging, WGI can safely collect millions of data points at highway speeds while minimizing disruption to traffic operations and significantly reducing field exposure for personnel.
- Accurately measure billboard height, orientation, and spacing
- Create digital replicas of roadway corridors and structures
- Streamline compliance reviews and permitting processes
- Support virtual inspections and corridor analysis
- Improve operational efficiency and long-term planning
Innovation Rooted in Safety and Stewardship
The project demonstrates how innovative technology can improve operational efficiency while supporting safety, sustainability, and environmental stewardship. Traditional billboard inspections often require extensive field work along active roadways, increasing exposure to traffic-related risks. WGI’s mobile lidar approach allows teams to safely collect accurate data at roadway speeds with minimal impacts to drivers and surrounding communities. The program also supports FDOT’s broader corridor planning and preservation goals by providing detailed geospatial data that can inform roadway design, landscape architecture, and long-term transportation planning decisions.
By combining engineering, planning, and geospatial expertise, WGI is helping preserve the visual integrity of Florida’s transportation corridors while ensuring outdoor advertising infrastructure remains functional, compliant, and efficiently managed.