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) displaying on a display device a digital image that does not include an aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area;
B) in advance of the excavation activities, adding via a user input device associated with the display device and at least one electronic marking tool application, at least one indicator to the displayed digital image to provide at least one indication of the dig area and thereby generate a marked-up digital image, wherein the at least one indicator identifies boundaries of the dig area with precision, and wherein the at least one indicator added to the displayed digital image comprises one or more of at least one line, at least one drawing shape, at least one shade, at least one freehand form, and at least one symbol; 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.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
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 that does not include an aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area is displayed on a display device. Via a user input device associated with the display device, at least one indicator is added to the displayed digital image to provide at least one indication of the dig area and thereby generate a marked-up digital image. Information relating to the marked up digital image 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.
265 Citations
37 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) displaying on a display device a digital image that does not include an aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area; B) in advance of the excavation activities, adding via a user input device associated with the display device and at least one electronic marking tool application, at least one indicator to the displayed digital image to provide at least one indication of the dig area and thereby generate a marked-up digital image, wherein the at least one indicator identifies boundaries of the dig area with precision, and wherein the at least one indicator added to the displayed digital image comprises one or more of at least one line, at least one drawing shape, at least one shade, at least one freehand form, and at least one symbol; 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)
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26. 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) displaying on a display device a digital image that does not include an aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area; B) in advance of the excavation activities, receiving user input, via a user input device and at least one electronic marking tool application associated with the display device; C) adding at least one indicator to the displayed digital image, based on the user input, so as to generate a marked-up digital image including at least one indication of the dig area, wherein the at least one indicator identifies boundaries of the dig area with precision, and wherein the at least one indicator added to the displayed digital image comprises one or more of at least one line, at least one drawing shape, at least one shade, at least one freehand form, and at least one symbol; and D) 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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27. 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 at least one electronic marking tool application; 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 and the at least one electronic marking tool application by the processing unit, the processing unit; controls the display device to display a digital image that does not include an aerial image of a geographic area including the dig area; acquires user input from the user input device to provide at least one indicator of the dig area on the displayed digital image, wherein the at least one indicator identifies boundaries of the dig area with precision, and wherein the at least one indicator added to the displayed digital image comprises one or more of at least one line, at least one drawing shape, at least one shade, at least one freehand form, and at least one symbol; generates a marked-up digital image including the at least one indicator based on the user input; and 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 (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification