METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYZING LOCATE AND MARKING OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO FACILITIES MAPS

• US 20100088164A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 04/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Certusview Technologies LLC (Dycom Industries Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chambers, Curtis, Farr, Jeffrey, Nielsen, Steven E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,208,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems including a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium (memory), and at least one input/output (I/O) interface for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation. First information relating to the locate and/or marking operation is compared to second information obtained from at least one facilities map. One or more indications of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation is automatically generated based on such a comparison, and the one or more indications of the quality assessment are electronically stored on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitted via the at least one I/O interface, so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.

Claims

1. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium, and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site, the method comprising:

A) comparing first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation to second information obtained from at least one facilities map;

B) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation; and

C) electronically storing on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer comprises at least one display device, and wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the at least one indication of the quality assessment on the at least one display device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the locate and/or marking operation is performed by at least one technician, and wherein C) comprises:

transmitting at least one feedback message to the at least one technician prior to completion of the location and/or marking operation, the feedback message being generated based at least in part on the at least one indication of the quality assessment generated in B).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map includes type information indicating at least one type of facility represented in the at least one facilities map.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the type information includes a number of different types of facilities represented in the at least one facilities map.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map includes a number of facility lines of a same type as the at least one underground facility intended to be detected and/or marked during the locate and/or marking operation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map includes relative position information relating to a relative position, pattern, and/or arrangement of multiple facility lines represented in the at least one facilities map.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information relates to a presumed physical location of at least one facility line represented in the at least one facilities map.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second information includes at least one geo-location data point derived from the at least one facilities map.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map includes information relating to one or more environmental landmarks, one or more architectural elements, and/or one or more traffic infrastructure elements represented in the at least one facilities map.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map relates at least in part to at least one of:

a date of the at least one facilities map;

a number of revisions to the at least one facilities map;

a source, creator, owner and/or custodian of the at least one facilities map;

text information included the at least one facilities map; and

legend information included in the at least one facilities map.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map relates at least in part to at least one conduit run and/or at least one joint trench represented in the at least one facilities map.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is generated by locating equipment used by the field-service technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, wherein the locating equipment comprises at least one of a marking device, a locate device, and a combined locate and marking device, and wherein the method further comprises:

prior to A), receiving the first information from the locating equipment, wherein the first information includes at least one of locate information, marking information, and landmark information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one of the marking device, the locate device, and the combined locate and marking device includes the computer including the at least one hardware processor executing the method.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein A), B), and C) are performed during or immediately following the locate and/or marking operation, and wherein the method further comprises:

D) altering at least one operating characteristic of the locating equipment based on the at least one indication of the quality assessment.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one indication of the quality assessment comprises a numeric score indicative of the quality of the locate and/or marking operation, and wherein D) further comprises:

D1) altering the at least one operating characteristic of the locating equipment if the numeric score is below a predetermined threshold.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein D) comprises disabling the locating equipment if the at least one indication of the quality assessment is unsatisfactory.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the first information includes at least one of:

at least one location at which the locating equipment was used to perform the locate and/or marking operation;

facility-type information identifying at least one underground facility for which the presence or the absence was detected and/or marked during the locate and/or marking operation;

facility location information identifying a location of the at least one underground facility for which the field-service technician detected and/or marked the presence or the absence during the locate and/or marking operation;

marking material type information identifying at least one characteristic of a marking material used to mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility;

signal information identifying a signal strength measured by the locate device at the location of the at least one underground facility for which the field-service technician detected the presence or the absence during the locate and/or marking operation;

position information identifying an angle and/or acceleration of the locating equipment during the locate and/or marking operation; and

environmental information describing at least one environmental condition present during the locate and/or marking operation.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises an electronic manifest of the locate and/or marking operation, the electronic manifest comprising:

at least one image of the work site; and

at least one electronic marking on the image indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the electronic manifest further comprises first geographic information indicating the location of the at least one electronic marking.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

A1) prior to A), selecting for comparison at least some of the first information and/or at least some of the second information based at least in part on a dig area indicator that indicates a dig area of the work site on a digital image.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein A1) comprises:

receiving, via the at least one I/O interface, geographic coordinates for the dig area indicator; and

selecting the at least some of the first information, and/or the at least some of the second information, that relates only to a geographic area including the geographic coordinates for the dig area indicator.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the geographic area is within a predetermined radius of the geographic coordinates for the dig area indicator.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the dig area indicator delimits the dig area on the digital image, and wherein A1) comprises:

receiving, via the at least one I/O interface, dig area indicator geographic information including geographic coordinates for the dig area indicator; and

selecting the at least some of the first information, and/or the at least some of the second information, that relates only to a geographic area delimited by the dig area indicator geographic information.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

A1) prior to A), selecting the at least one facilities map based at least in part on a dig area indicator that indicates a dig area of the work site on a digital image.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein A1) comprises:

receiving, via the at least one I/O interface, dig area indicator geographic information including geographic coordinates for the dig area indicator; and

selecting the at least one facilities map that includes a geographic area including the geographic coordinates for the dig area indicator.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one facilities map includes a plurality of facilities maps;

the second information comprises a plurality of pieces of information derived from different ones of the plurality of facilities maps; and

prior to A), the method comprises aggregating the plurality of pieces of information derived from the different ones of the plurality of facilities maps to obtain the second information.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein a confidence value is associated with each of the plurality of pieces of information, and wherein the method comprises aggregating the plurality of pieces of information by selecting at least one piece of information from the plurality of pieces of information based on respective confidence values associated with the plurality of pieces of information.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first information includes a first set of geo-location data points indicating geographic locations at which at least one facility line of the at least one underground facility was detected and/or marked during the locate and/or marking operation; and

the second information includes a second set of geo-location data points indicating a presumed actual location of at least one facility line represented in the at least one facilities map,

and wherein A) comprises;

A1) comparing the first set of geo-location data points with the second set of geo-location data points; and

A2) determining a distance between each point in the first set and a nearest point in the second set to generate a vector of distances.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first set of geo-location data points is expressed in a first reference frame and the second set of geo-location data points is expressed in a second reference frame different from the first reference frame, and wherein the processor transforms at least one of the first set of geo-location data points and the second set of geo-location data points to a common reference frame.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein B) comprises:

B1) generating the at least one indication of the quality assessment based, at least in part, on the vector of distances generated in A2).

32. The method of claim 31, wherein B1) comprises:

generating the at least one indication of the quality assessment based, at least in part, on a percentage of distance values in the vector of distances that are below a first threshold.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein B) further comprises:

generating the at least one indication of the quality assessment as a score or grade having one of a plurality of possible values.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein A) comprises:

providing at least one quality assessment criterion relating to the second information obtained from the at least one facilities map;

providing at least two scoring categories for the at least one quality assessment criterion, each scoring category associated with a scoring value or grade;

for each scoring category providing an expected data value or range of expected data values;

determining, for the at least one quality assessment criterion, into which of the at least two scoring categories the locate and/or marking operation falls by comparing the first information to the expected data value or range of expected data values for at least one of the at least two scoring categories; and

assigning to the locate and/or marking operation the scoring value or grade associated with the scoring category into which the locate and/or marking operation falls.

35. An apparatus for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site, the apparatus comprising:

at least one input/output (I/O) interface;

at least one memory storing processor-executable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the at least one I/O interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor;

A) compares first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation to second information obtained from at least one facilities map;

B) automatically generates, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation; and

C) controls the at least one memory so as to electronically store, and/or controls the at least one I/O interface so as to electronically transmit, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.

36. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor in a computer comprising at least one input/output (I/O) interface, perform a method for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a work site, the method comprising:

A) comparing first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation to second information obtained from at least one facilities map;

B) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and marking operation; and

C) electronically storing on the at least one computer-readable storage medium, and/or electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.