Orlando, Fla. – DRMP is excited to announce that the Alachua County Public Schools Mobile Wi-Fi Distribution Project won the 2021 American Council of Engineering Companies of Florida (ACEC-FL) Engineering Excellence Honor Award in the Surveying & Mapping Technology Category.
DRMP’s Geographic Information System (GIS) analyst, Kelly Marton, GISP used data and innovative technology to identify the best places to park school buses outfitted with mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. The hotspots ensured the county’s most vulnerable students had internet access while learning from home due to COVID-19. Executing this project quickly was critical in meeting the requirements of grant funding for this project. Marton and Gilreath quickly performed an advanced data analysis to determine the best areas for the Wi-Fi hotspots.
The judges for the ACEC-FL EEA rated projects and studies based on uniqueness and innovative applications; future value to the engineering profession; perception by the public; social, economic, and sustainable development considerations; complexity; and successful fulfillment of client/owners’ needs, including schedule and budget.
“It was an honor to partner with Alachua County Public Schools on this project that not only helped the county’s most vulnerable students continue their education but also paved the way for future analysis for the school district,” said Marton, the lead GIS Analyst for the Mobile Wi-Fi Distribution project.
About the Award-Winning Project
Already familiar with the Alachua County student population as the long-range planning consultant since 2015, DRMP’s GIS team was given the task to cross-check a list of initial candidate sites for mobile Wi-Fi identified by the school district. The analysts developed a heat map that helps better visualize data clusters using collected data. The analysis helped identify 10 additional sites for the district to consider and choose the best sites out of an initial list of 70. Using feedback from school district staff, along with the various data sources mentioned previously, helped the district decide on almost 50 final sites that optimized the number of vulnerable students that could access the internet conveniently from their own home.
About DRMP
DRMP is a multi-discipline firm serving clients in the public, private and industrial sectors in the development of infrastructure and has been in business since 1977. DRMP currently employs nearly 500 professionals in 18 office locations spread strategically across our service area. Today, DRMP is ranked on the Orlando Business Journal’s “Central Florida’s Top Employers” List, the Orlando Business Journal’s “Top Engineering Firms” List and is also among Engineering News-Record’s Top 500 Design Firms” in the United States. For more information, please visit www.drmp.com.
