Method and system for automated project management of excavation requests

• US 10,496,942 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2016
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, Inc. (APi Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: P800X, LLC
• Inventors: Auerbach, Samuel W., Daniels, Andrew S., Urban, Daniel R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US15/155,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20160260048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,296 Days
• Field of Search: 705 715
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/08 Construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A method and system for method for automated work project management. The methods and systems described herein provide automated excavation mark-out verification of a user request to excavate at a desired location. User-defined excavation information is automatically verified and corrected if necessary. One or more municipalities and one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components are automatically notified of the request to excavate at the user-defined location. The method and system eliminate a need for a user to correctly determine all required information for user requested excavation, and reduces a possibility of the user requesting markings or excavating at a wrong location.

Claims

1. A method for automated work project management excavation mark-outs, comprising:

receiving a new electronic excavation work order request on a server application on a server network device with one or more processors via a communications network from an application on a network device with one or more processors,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order includes a request to excavate below a surface level at a user-defined location while avoiding any existing underground utility infrastructure components at the user-defined location,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause one or more municipalities to be automatically notified of the request to excavate;

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location to be automatically notified of the request to excavate, and

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause the one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components to mark or have marked, on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location,

thereby eliminating a need for a user to correctly determine all required information for the excavation, and

thereby reducing a possibility of the user requesting markings or excavating at a wrong location not including the determined actual physical location;

determining automatically on the server application geographic information for the user-defined location thereby determining the actual physical location with one or more queries to other applications via the communications network;

determining automatically on the server application one or more municipalities that include the determined actual physical location with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

determining automatically on the server application one or more owners of one or more existing underground utility infrastructure components that include the determined actual physical location with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

determining automatically on the server application a street name of a street closest to the determined actual physical location and one or more names of one or more other streets intersecting the determined street closest with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

calculating automatically on the server application bounding box data calculated from the determined actual physical location, wherein the bounding box data includes a length, width and depth for the request to excavate below the surface level at the determined physical location;

adding on the server application to the received new electronic excavation work order the determined;

(1) geographic information, (2) one or more municipalities, (3) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components, (4) street name, (5) one or more intersecting street names, (6) calculated bounding box data, and (7) the determined actual physical location, thereby creating a modified electronic excavation work order;

sending order from the server application the modified electronic excavation work via the communications network to the application on the network device,

wherein the application on the network device extracts electronic information from the modified electronic excavation work order and automatically displays on a display component on the network device the;

(1) one or more municipalities, (2) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components (3) street name, (4) one or more intersecting street names, (5) a graphical bounding box on an electronic map created from the calculated bounding box data, and (6) the determined actual physical location determined from the user defined location;

determining on the server application from the modified excavation work order the one or more municipalities and the one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components of the proposed excavation for the determined actual physical location; and

sending from the server application the modified electronic excavation work order via the communications network to one or more other applications on one or other network devices, each with one or more processors comprising the determined one or more municipalities and the determined one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components with electronic notifications of the proposed excavation and requesting marking on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the communications network includes a cloud communications network comprising one or more public networks, one or more private networks, one or more community networks or one or more hybrid networks and wherein the cloud communications network includes on-demand automatic secure automated project management mark-out services and broadband network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and measured network services for cloud automated work project management excavation marking services.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the server application on the server network device, the application on the network device and the other applications on the other network devices provide a cloud computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), a cloud computing Platform, as a Service (PaaS) and offers Specific cloud project management excavation verification services as a Service (SaaS) including a cloud software service, wherein the IaaS, PaaS and SaaS include one or more of automated work project management excavation verification services comprising networking, storage, server network device, virtualization, operating system, middleware, run-time, data or application services, or plural combinations thereof, on the cloud communications network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein communications via the communications network are sent and received securely using a Wireless Encryption Protocol (WEP), Wireless-Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Robust Security Network (RSN), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Data Encryption Standard (DES), Triple Data Encryption Standard (3DES), Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), Message Digest-5 (MD-5), Electronic Code Book (ECB), Diffie and Hellman (DH), HyperText Transport Protocol Secure, (HTTPs), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), or a Transport Layer Security (TLS) security method.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein server network device, network device and other network devices include wireless networking interfaces comprising a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) wireless networking interface with 4th generation (4G) wireless speeds or faster, for communicating with the communications network.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the application on the network device includes a smart application for a smart phone or a tablet computer network device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying in real-time from the application on the server network device or on the one or more other applications on the other network devices, an electronic map on a multi-windowed graphical user interface for viewing the modified electronic excavation work order.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic map includes a two-dimensional (2D) graphical map, three-dimensional (3D) graphical map, or a photographic map including a plurality of digital photographs.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the determining steps include making the one or more queries from the server application with Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), REpresentational State Transfer (REST), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Application Programming Interface (API) queries.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the determining steps include making the one or more queries from the server application via the communications network to one or more databases local to the server network device or one or more databases remote to the server network device.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the geographic information includes Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) data, Geo-coding data, electronic map data, three-dimensional (3D) (X, Y, Z) geo-coordinate data, or mobile phone cell tower location information data.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the existing underground utility infrastructure components include, water, gas, electric, sanitary sewer, waste water, drainage, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), or communications network, or structural, underground utility infrastructure components.

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

requesting marking on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more queries to other applications via the communications network include one or more queries to one or more local databases, remote databases including federal, state, county, local government databases, remote web-sites, GOOGLE search engine, other search engines GOOGLE MAPS, or MAPQUEST.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

querying from the server application on the server network device a database associated with the server network device to determine if the new electronic excavation work order request can be completed at the determined actual physical geographic location, and if not,

adjusting or canceling the new electronic excavation work order request based on the database query; and

sending an adjustment message from the server application on the server network device via the communications network back to the application on the network device indicating the new electronic excavation work order request has been adjusted or canceled.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving on the application on the network device via the communications network from the server application on the server network device, the modified electronic excavation work order;

extracting from the application electronic information from the modified electronic excavation work order including the;

(1) one or more municipalities, (2) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components (3) street name, (4) one or more intersecting street names, (5) a graphical bounding box on an electronic map created from the calculated bounding box data, and (6) the determined actual physical location determined from the user defined location; and

automatically displaying from the application on the display component on the network device the extract electronic information.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending a new electronic excavation work order request from the application on the network device with one or more processors via the communications network to the server application on the server network device,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order includes a request to excavate below the surface level at the user-defined location while avoiding any existing underground utility infrastructure components at the user-defined location and includes other excavation information input by the user.

2. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of instructions for causing one or more processor on one or more network devices to execute the steps of:

receiving a new electronic excavation work order request on a server application on a server network device with one or more processors via a communications network from an application on a network device with one or more processors,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order includes a request to excavate below a surface level at a user-defined location while avoiding any existing underground utility infrastructure components at the user-defined location,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause one or more municipalities to be automatically notified of the request to excavate;

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location to be automatically notified of the request to excavate, and

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause the one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components to mark or have marked, on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location,

thereby eliminating a need for a user to correctly determine all required information for the excavation, and

thereby reducing a possibility of the user requesting markings or excavating at a wrong location not including the determined actual physical location;

determining automatically on the server application geographic information for the user-defined location thereby determining the actual physical location with one or more queries to other applications via the communications network;

determining automatically on the server application one or more municipalities that include the determined actual physical location with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

determining automatically on the server application one or more owners of one or more existing underground utility infrastructure components that include the determined actual physical location with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

determining automatically on the server application a street name of a street closest to the determined actual physical location and one or more names of one or more other streets intersecting the determined street closest with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

calculating automatically on the server application bounding box data calculated from the determined actual physical location, wherein the bounding box data includes a length, width and depth for the request to excavate below the surface level at the determined physical location;

adding on the server application to the received new electronic excavation work order the determined;

(1) geographic information, (2) one or more municipalities, (3) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components, (4) street name, (5) one or more intersecting street names, (6) calculated bounding box data, and (7) the determined actual physical location, thereby creating a modified electronic excavation work order;

sending order from the server application the modified electronic excavation work via the communications network to the application on the network device,

wherein the application on the network device extracts electronic information from the modified electronic excavation work order and automatically displays on a display component on the network device the;

(1) one or more municipalities, (2) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components (3) street name, (4) one or more intersecting street names, (5) a graphical bounding box on an electronic map created from the calculated bounding box data, and (6) the determined actual physical location determined from the user defined location;

determining on the server application from the modified excavation work order the one or more municipalities and the one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components of the proposed excavation for the determined actual physical location; and

sending from the server application the modified electronic excavation work order via the communications network to one or more other applications on one or other network devices, each with one or more processors comprising the determined one or more municipalities and the determined one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components with electronic notifications of the proposed excavation and requesting marking on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location.

19. A system for automated work project management excavation mark-outs, comprising in combination:

a server application in a non-transitory computer readable medium on a server network device with one or more processors;

the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein a plurality of instructions;

for receiving a new electronic excavation work order request on a server application on a server network device with one or more processors via a communications network from an application on a network device with one or more processors,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order includes a request to excavate below a surface level at a user-defined location while avoiding any existing underground utility infrastructure components at the user-defined location,

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause one or more municipalities to be automatically notified of the request to excavate;

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location to be automatically notified of the request to excavate, and

wherein the new electronic excavation work order will cause the one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components to mark or have marked, on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location,

thereby eliminating a need for a user to correctly determine all required information for the excavation, and

thereby reducing a possibility of the user requesting markings or excavating at a wrong location not including the determined actual physical location;

for determining automatically on the server application geographic information for the user-defined location thereby determining the actual physical location with one or more queries to other applications via the communications network;

for determining automatically on the server application one or more municipalities that include the determined actual physical location with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

for determining automatically on the server application one or more owners of one or more existing underground utility infrastructure components that include the determined actual physical location with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

for determining automatically on the server application a street name of a street closest to the determined actual physical location and one or more names of one or more other streets intersecting the determined street closest with one or more queries to the other applications via the communications network;

for calculating automatically on the server application bounding box data calculated from the determined actual physical location, wherein the bounding box data includes a length, width and depth for the request to excavate below the surface level at the determined physical location;

for adding on the server application to the received new electronic excavation work order the determined;

(1) geographic information, (2) one or more municipalities, (3) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components, (4) street name, (5) one or more intersecting street names, (6) calculated bounding box data, and (7) the determined actual physical location, thereby creating a modified electronic excavation work order;

for sending order from the server application the modified electronic excavation work via the communications network to the application on the network device,

wherein the application on the network device extracts electronic information from the modified electronic excavation work order and automatically displays on a display component on the network device the;

(1) one or more municipalities, (2) one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components (3) street name, (4) one or more intersecting street names, (5) a graphical bounding box on an electronic map created from the calculated bounding box data, and (6) the determined actual physical location determined from the user defined location;

for determining on the server application from the modified excavation work order the one or more municipalities and the one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components of the proposed excavation for the determined actual physical location; and

for sending from the server application the modified electronic excavation work order via the communications network to one or more other applications on one or other network devices, each with one or more processors comprising the determined one or more municipalities and the determined one or more owners of the existing underground utility infrastructure components with electronic notifications of the proposed excavation and requesting marking on the surface level precise locations of all existing underground utility infrastructure components at the determined actual physical location.