Methods, systems, and products for mapping facilities data

• US 20080092061A1
• Filed: 09/17/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T BLS Intelectual Property Inc (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T BLS Intelectual Property Inc (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bankston, Deborah F., Vinson, M. W. Rick
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,412 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods

Abstract

Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for mapping facilities data. A graphical mapping of facilities information, overlaid onto a map of roads, is generated and displayed. An outer perimeter of a geographic area is defined, and the outer perimeter is displayed in the graphical mapping. A bill of materials that corresponds to the outer perimeter is then generated.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating and causing display of a graphical mapping of facilities information overlaid onto a map of roads;

defining an outer perimeter of a geographic area;

causing display of the outer perimeter in the graphical mapping;

generating a bill of materials that corresponds to the outer perimeter; and

outputting the bill of materials.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising defining an inner perimeter for the geographic area and displaying the inner perimeter in the graphical mapping.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a bill of materials comprises excluding from the bill of materials any facilities information associated with the inner perimeter.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising annotating the outer perimeter.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying a geospatial facilities mapping database to generate the graphical mapping.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving a wire center data set that corresponds to a selected wire center.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising filtering from the wire center data set information associated with at least one of aerial facilities, buried facilities, and cellular towers.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising filtering from the wire center data set information associated with at least one of copper wire equipment, fiber optic equipment, manholes, utility poles, conduits, and annotations.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

retrieving multiple wire center data sets, each wire center data set corresponding to a different wire center; and

causing display of a graphical user interface having multiple views, with each view corresponding to one of the multiple wire center data sets, such that upon selection of a particular view, a corresponding wire center data set is displayed.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying for a name of a facility and retrieving facility information associated with the name of the facility.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising scrolling the graphical mapping to a location associated with the facility information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying for a name of equipment and retrieving equipment information associated with the name of the equipment.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising scrolling the graphical mapping to a location associated with the equipment information.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying for a work order and retrieving work order information associated with the work order.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying for a cable count and causing display of a listing of candidates associated with the cable count.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising causing display of a map designation associated with a candidate.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising causing display of attributes associated with the candidate.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a facility displayed in the graphical mapping;

generating loop make-up information for the selected facility;

graphically displaying the loop make-up information as a path overlaid onto the mapping of roads; and

emphasizing the path in the display for ease of reference.

19. A system, comprising:

means for generating and causing display of a graphical mapping of facilities information overlaid onto a map of roads;

means for defining an outer perimeter of a geographic area;

means for causing display of the outer perimeter in the graphical mapping;

means for generating a bill of materials that corresponds to the outer perimeter; and

means for outputting the bill of materials.

20. A computer program product comprising processor-executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:

generating and causing display of a graphical mapping of facilities information overlaid onto a map of roads;

defining an outer perimeter of a geographic area;

causing display of the outer perimeter in the graphical mapping;

generating a bill of materials that corresponds to the outer perimeter; and

outputting the bill of materials.