Virtual white lines for delimiting planned excavation sites
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising:
- A) electronically receiving a digital aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area, at least a portion of the received digital aerial image being displayed on a display device;
B) in advance of the excavation activities and at the first user location remote from the dig area, sketching virtual white lines to delimit the dig area on the displayed digital aerial image, via a user input device and a drawing application associated with the display device, so as to generate a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area the marked up digital image including the virtual white lines to precisely identify boundaries of the dig area, wherein B) is performed without acquiring geographic coordinates to delimit the dig area; and
C) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-up digital image so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. A digital image of a geographic area including the dig area is electronically received, and at least a portion of the received digital image is displayed on a display device. The dig area is delimited on the displayed digital image, via a user input device associated with the display device, so as to generate a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area, without acquiring geographic coordinates to delimit the dig area. Information relating to the dig area is electronically transmitted and/or electronically stored so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area.
274 Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising:
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A) electronically receiving a digital aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area, at least a portion of the received digital aerial image being displayed on a display device; B) in advance of the excavation activities and at the first user location remote from the dig area, sketching virtual white lines to delimit the dig area on the displayed digital aerial image, via a user input device and a drawing application associated with the display device, so as to generate a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area the marked up digital image including the virtual white lines to precisely identify boundaries of the dig area, wherein B) is performed without acquiring geographic coordinates to delimit the dig area; and C) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-up digital image so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 44)
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32. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processing unit, perform a method for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the method comprising:
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A) electronically receiving a digital aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area; B) displaying at least a portion of the received digital aerial image on a display device; C) in advance of the excavation activities and at the first user location remote from the dig area, receiving user input, via a user input device and a drawing application associated with the display device, the user input representative of sketching virtual white lines to delimit the dig area on the displayed digital aerial image, wherein C) is performed without acquiring geographic coordinates to delimit the dig area; D) generating a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area, the marked up digital image including the virtual white lines to precisely identify boundaries of the dig area based on the user input; and E) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing information relating to the marked-up digital image so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area.
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33. An apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the apparatus comprising:
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a communication interface; a display device; a user input device; a memory to store processor-executable instructions and a drawing application associated with the display device; and a processing unit coupled to the communication interface, the display device, the user input device, and the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit; controls the communication interface to electronically receive a digital aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area; controls the display device to display at least a portion of the received digital aerial image; in advance of the excavation activities and at the first user location remote from the dig area, acquires user input from the user input device, the user input representative of sketching virtual white lines via the drawing application to delimit the dig area on the displayed digital aerial image, wherein the user input does not include geographic coordinates to delimit the dig area; generates a marked-up digital image including a delimited dig area, the marked up digital image including the virtual white lines to precisely identify boundaries of the dig area based on the user input; and further controls the communication interface and/or the memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store information relating to the marked-up digital image so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification