Methods and apparatus for analyzing locate and marking operations with respect to facilities maps
First Claim
1. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a performance of a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate technician in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the method comprising:
- A) receiving first information relating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising identifying, in advance of the planned excavation activities, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within the dig area identified by the locate ticket, wherein the first information is generated at least in part by at least one of a user device, a marking device, a locate device, and a combined locate and marking device used by the locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, and the first information comprises an electronic manifest of the locate and/or marking operation, the electronic manifest comprising;
at least one digital image of a geographic area proximate to and including the dig area; and
at least one electronic marking overlaid on the at least one digital image indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility;
B) comparing the first information, including the at least one electronic marking included in the electronic manifest, to second information obtained from at least one facilities map;
C) automatically generating, based on B), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; and
D) at least one of electronically storing and electronically transmitting, via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
387 Citations
69 Claims
-
1. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a performance of a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate technician in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the method comprising:
-
A) receiving first information relating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising identifying, in advance of the planned excavation activities, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within the dig area identified by the locate ticket, wherein the first information is generated at least in part by at least one of a user device, a marking device, a locate device, and a combined locate and marking device used by the locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, and the first information comprises an electronic manifest of the locate and/or marking operation, the electronic manifest comprising; at least one digital image of a geographic area proximate to and including the dig area; and at least one electronic marking overlaid on the at least one digital image indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility; B) comparing the first information, including the at least one electronic marking included in the electronic manifest, to second information obtained from at least one facilities map; C) automatically generating, based on B), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; and D) at least one of electronically storing and electronically transmitting, via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment. - 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, 32, 68)
-
-
33. An apparatus for evaluating a quality of a performance of locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate technician in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the apparatus comprising:
-
at least one input/output (I/O) interface; and a processor coupled to the at least one I/O interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor; A) receives first information relating to performance of the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising identifying, in advance of the planned excavation activities, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within the dig area identified by the locate ticket, wherein the first information is generated at least in part by at least one of a user device, a marking device, a locate device, and a combined locate and marking device used by the locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, and the first information comprises an electronic manifest of the locate and/or marking operation, the electronic manifest comprising; at least one digital image of a geographic area proximate to and including the dig area; and at least one electronic marking overlaid on the at least one digital image indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility; B) compares the first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation, including the at least one electronic marking included in the electronic manifest, to second information obtained from at least one facilities map; C) automatically generates, based on B), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; and D) at least one of electronically stores and controls the at least one I/O interface to electronically transmit the at least one indication of the quality assessment to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 69)
-
-
34. At least one non-transitory 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 performance of a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate technician in response to a locate ticket and in advance of planned excavation activities at a dig area identified by the locate ticket, the method comprising:
-
A) receiving first information relating to performance of the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprising identifying, in advance of the planned excavation activities, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within the dig area identified by the locate ticket, wherein the first information is generated at least in part by at least one of a user device, a marking device, a locate device, and a combined locate and marking device used by the locate technician to perform the locate and/or marking operation, and the first information comprises an electronic manifest of the locate and/or marking operation, the electronic manifest comprising; at least one digital image of a geographic area proximate to and including the dig area; and at least one electronic marking overlaid on the at least one digital image indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility; B) comparing the first information relating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation, including the at least one electronic marking included in the electronic manifest, to second information obtained from at least one facilities map; C) automatically generating, based on B), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; and D) at least one of electronically storing on the at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface the at least one indication of the quality assessment to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
-
-
66. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a performance of a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate technician to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a dig area, the method comprising:
-
A) comparing first information relating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation performed by the locate technician to second information obtained from at least one facilities map, wherein; the first information relating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation includes at least one of; at least one location at which locating equipment was used by the locate technician 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 by the locate technician during the locate and/or marking operation; facility location information identifying a location of the at least one underground facility for which the locate 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 at least one of a locate device and a combined locate and marking device at the location of the at least one underground facility for which the locate technician detected the presence or the absence during the locate and/or marking operation; position information identifying at least one of an angle and an acceleration of at least one of a marking device, the locate device, and the combined locate and marking device during the locate and/or marking operation; and environmental information describing at least one environmental condition present during the locate and/or marking operation; and the second information obtained from at least one facilities map includes at least one of; type information indicating at least one type of facility represented in the at least one facilities map; a number of different types of facilities represented in the at least one facilities map; 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; relative position information relating to at least one of a relative position, pattern, and arrangement of multiple facility lines represented in the at least one facilities map; and a presumed physical location of at least one facility line represented in the at least one facilities map; B) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; and C) at least one of electronically storing and electronically transmitting, via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
-
-
67. An apparatus for evaluating a quality of a performance of a locate and/or marking operation performed by a locate technician to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a dig area, the apparatus comprising:
-
at least one input/output (I/O) interface; and a processor coupled to 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 performance of the locate and/or marking operation performed by the locate technician to second information obtained from at least one facilities map, wherein; the first information relating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation includes at least one of; at least one location at which locating equipment was used by the locate technician 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 by the locate technician during the locate and/or marking operation; facility location information identifying a location of the at least one underground facility for which the locate 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 at least one of a locate device and a combined locate and marking device at the location of the at least one underground facility for which the locate technician detected the presence or the absence during the locate and/or marking operation; position information identifying at least one of an angle and an acceleration of at least one of a marking device, the locate device, and the combined locate and marking device during the locate and/or marking operation; and environmental information describing at least one environmental condition present during the locate and/or marking operation; and the second information obtained from at least one facilities map includes at least one of; type information indicating at least one type of facility represented in the at least one facilities map; a number of different types of facilities represented in the at least one facilities map; 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; relative position information relating to at least one of a relative position, pattern, and arrangement of multiple facility lines represented in the at least one facilities map; and a presumed physical location of at least one facility line represented in the at least one facilities map; B) automatically generates, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; and C) at least one of electronically stores and controls the at least one I/O interface to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.
-
Specification