Methods, systems, and products for mapping facilities data

• US 8,069,412 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2007
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bankston, Deborah F., Vinson, M. W. Rick
• Primary Examiner(s): HERNDON, HEATHER R
• Application Number:
  US11/901,597
• Publication Number:
  US 20080092061A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,534 Days
• Field of Search: 715/273, 715/255, 715/784, 715/200, 705/29
• US Class Current: 715/255
• 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;

displaying the outer perimeter in the graphical mapping;

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

generating loop make-up information for the facility;

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

emphasizing the path for ease of reference;

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 2, wherein generating the 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 causing display of a map designation associated with a candidate.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising causing display of attributes associated with the candidate.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor executing code stored in memory that causes the processor to;

generate and cause display of a graphical mapping of facilities information overlaid onto a map of roads;

define a closed, outer perimeter of a geographic area;

display the outer perimeter in the graphical mapping;

define a closed, inner perimeter within the geographic area;

display the inner perimeter in the graphical mapping;

display a graphical user interface with options to exclude overlapping facilities in the inner perimeter;

generate a bill of materials that corresponds to the outer perimeter “

which is the geographic area that excludes the inner perimeter”

; and

output the bill of materials.

18. A computer readable medium storing processor-executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:

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

displaying a count finder dialog box in a graphical user interface;

receiving a selection of a cable name from a menu of cable identifiers;

querying for a cable count associated with the cable name and displaying a listing of candidates associated with the cable count;

displaying a listing of cable candidate identifiers, each entry in the listing of cable candidate identifiers further identifying candidate cables;

receiving a selection of an entry in the listing of cable candidate identifiers;

highlighting the entry in a graphical user interface that displays a selected candidate;

generating a bill of materials that corresponds to the selected candidate; and

outputting the bill of materials.