U.S. patent application number 15/295363 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-18 for electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks.
The applicant listed for this patent is CertusView Technologies, LLC. Invention is credited to Curtis Chambers, Steven Nielsen.
Application Number | 20170140562 15/295363 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40938510 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-18 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170140562 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Nielsen; Steven ; et
al. |
May 18, 2017 |
ELECTRONIC MANIFEST OF UNDERGROUND FACILITY LOCATE MARKS
Abstract
A method performed by a device may include receiving information
regarding a particular geographic area; retrieving an aerial image
of the particular geographic area; displaying the aerial image;
determining an approximate geographic location of a mark denoting
an underground facility; overlaying, on the displayed aerial image,
information concerning the approximate geographic location of the
mark denoting the underground facility; and storing the aerial
image and the information concerning the approximate geographic
location of the mark denoting the underground facility.
Inventors: |
Nielsen; Steven; (North Palm
Beach, FL) ; Chambers; Curtis; (Palm Beach Gardens,
FL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
CertusView Technologies, LLC |
Palm Beach Gardens |
FL |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
40938510 |
Appl. No.: |
15/295363 |
Filed: |
October 17, 2016 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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14263627 |
Apr 28, 2014 |
9471835 |
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15295363 |
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13953998 |
Jul 30, 2013 |
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14263627 |
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12029732 |
Feb 12, 2008 |
8532342 |
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13953998 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06K 9/00476 20130101;
G06T 11/60 20130101; G06Q 10/06 20130101; G06T 2210/62 20130101;
G06Q 50/08 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06T 11/60 20060101
G06T011/60; G06K 9/00 20060101 G06K009/00 |
Claims
1. A method performed by a device, the method comprising: receiving
first information regarding a particular geographic area including
a dig area; retrieving an aerial image of the particular geographic
area including the dig area; displaying the aerial image;
overlaying, on the displayed aerial image, second information
concerning an approximate geographic location of a locate mark
placed on a surface above an underground facility detected by a
locate technician performing a locate operation in the dig area,
the locate mark including at least one of a) paint, b) at least one
flag, and c) at least one colored marker, denoting a presence of
the underground facility; and storing the aerial image and the
second information concerning the approximate geographic location
of the locate mark denoting the underground facility.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application claims a priority benefit, under 35
U.S.C. .sctn.120, as a continuation (CON) of U.S. non-provisional
application Ser. No. 14/263,627, filed on Apr. 28, 2014, entitled
"ELECTRONIC MANIFEST OF UNDERGROUND FACILITY LOCATE MARKS." (Atty.
Docket No. DYCO-003/07US 319976-2049).
[0002] U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/263,627, filed
on Apr. 28, 2014, claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120, as
a continuation (CON) of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.
13/953,998, filed on Jul. 30, 2013, entitled "ELECTRONIC MANIFEST
OF UNDERGROUND FACILITY LOCATE MARKS." (Atty Docket No.
DYCO-003/05US 319976-2625).
[0003] U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/953,998, filed
on Jul. 30, 2013, claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120, as
a continuation (CON) of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.
12/029,732, filed on Feb. 12, 2008, entitled "ELECTRONIC MANIFEST
OF UNDERGROUND FACILITY LOCATE MARKS." (Atty. Docket No.
DYCO-003/00US 319976-2110).
[0004] Each of the above-identified applications is hereby
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0005] Excavators are required to notify underground facility
owners/operators in advance of their excavation activities and to
describe and communicate the geographic area of those activities to
underground facility owners/operators. The geographic area so
described is commonly referred to as "the dig area." In turn,
facility owners/operators are required to determine if they own or
operate any underground facilities at an identified dig area. The
presence of underground facilities at a dig area is generally
detected using a device commonly referred to as a "locate wand."
Locate wands use a number of electronic methods to detect the
presence of underground facilities. The location of those
underground facilities, if any, which exist within a dig area, is
marked using paint or some other physical marking system, such as
flags. Paint is generally applied as a sequence of dashes or dots
on the surface (grass, dirt, asphalt, concrete, etc.) directly
above the underground facility and is color-coded to indicate to
the excavator the type (e.g., gas, water, sewer, power, telephone,
cable television, etc.) of the underground facility present. Flags,
which also may identify the underground facility via color-coding,
can be placed in the ground directly above the underground facility
being marked. Paint and/or flags can be dispensed using various
devices. The application of paint, flags, or some other marking
object to indicate the presence of an underground facility is
called a "locate." The marks resulting from a locate are commonly
called underground facility "locate marks."
[0006] Underground facility owners/operators may perform locates
with in-house employees or choose to hire independent contract
locating firms to perform locates on their behalf. Generally, the
person performing the locate operation is called a locate
technician. The set of instructions necessary for a locate
technician to perform a locate operation may be called a "ticket."
A ticket might specify, for example, the address or description of
the dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that the dig area is
to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark the dig area for
telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cable television),
power, gas, water, sewer, or some other underground facility.
[0007] It is generally recommended, or in some jurisdictions
required, to document the type and number of underground facilities
located, i.e. telephone, power, gas, water, sewer, etc., and the
approximate geographic location of the locate marks. Often times it
is also recommended or required to document the distance, or
"offset" of the locate marks from environmental landmarks that
exist at the dig area. An environmental landmark may include any
physical object that is likely to remain in a fixed location for an
extended period of time. Examples of an environmental landmark may
include a tree, a curb, a driveway, a utility pole, a fire hydrant,
a storm drain, a pedestal, a water meter box, a manhole lid, a
building structure (e.g., a residential or office building), or a
light post. For example, a telephone cable located two and a half
meters behind the curb of a residential street would be documented
as being offset two and a half meters behind the curb. These
offsets serve as evidence supporting the location of the locate
marks after those locate marks may have been disturbed by the
excavation process.
[0008] Documentation of some or all of the information regarding a
locate operation is often called a "manifest." A manifest may
typically contain a variety of information related to a locate
operation including a sketch or drawing of the dig area that
identifies the approximate location of the locate marks and
environmental landmarks present at the dig area; the time and date
the locate operation was performed; identification of the entity
and the locate technician performing the locate operation; the
entity requesting the locate operation; the geographic address of
the dig area; the type of markings used for the locate operation
(e.g., colored paint, flags, or other markers); notes from the
locate technician; and/or a technician signature.
[0009] If performing locate operations with in-house employees,
each individual underground facility owner/operator generally
documents on the manifest only the existence of its facilities and
the approximate location of its locate marks. If an independent
contract locating firm is hired to perform locates for more than
one underground facility owner/operator, the contract locating firm
may document on the manifest some or all of the underground
facilities at the dig area that it located and the approximate
location of all the locate marks.
[0010] Currently, locate marks are generally documented using a
sketching process which results in the creation of a paper
manifest. Sketches are produced by hand, are not to scale, prone to
human error, and costly in drafting time spent by the locate
technician. They are stored manually or in some jurisdictions are
digitally scanned/photographed and the image stored electronically.
Because the manifests are stored as paper or digital images, they
are not easily interrogated for data in any mechanized way.
SUMMARY
[0011] According to one aspect, a method performed by a device may
include receiving information regarding a particular geographic
area; retrieving an aerial image of the particular geographic area;
displaying the aerial image; determining an approximate geographic
location of a locate mark denoting an underground facility;
overlaying, on the displayed aerial image, information concerning
the geographic location of the locate mark denoting the underground
facility; and storing the aerial image and the information
concerning the approximate geographic location of the locate mark
denoting the underground facility.
[0012] According to another aspect, a device may include a memory
to store aerial images of a plurality of geographic areas and a
processing unit. The processing unit may receive information
regarding a particular one of the geographic areas; retrieve one of
the aerial images from the memory based on the received
information; receive information concerning an approximate
geographic location of an underground facility located within the
particular geographic area; present, on the retrieved aerial image,
information concerning the approximate geographic location of the
underground facility locate marks; and store the retrieved aerial
image and the information concerning the approximate geographic
location of the underground facility locate mark.
[0013] According to a further aspect, a system may include means
for identifying a geographic area; means for retrieving an aerial
image of the geographic area; means for displaying the retrieved
image; means for receiving input from a user concerning an
approximate geographic location of underground facility locate
marks that are located within the geographic area; means for
presenting, on the displayed aerial image, a marking that
identifies the approximate geographic location of the underground
facility locate marks within the geographic area; and means for
storing the displayed aerial image with the marking that identifies
the approximate geographic location of the underground facility
locate marks.
[0014] According to another aspect, a system may include a central
server to store a plurality of aerial images of a corresponding
plurality of geographical locations; and a user device. The user
device may identify a particular geographic location; determine
whether the user device stores an aerial image corresponding to the
particular geographic location; retrieve the aerial image from the
central server when the user device does not store the aerial image
corresponding to the particular geographic location; retrieve the
aerial image from a local memory when the user device stores the
aerial image corresponding to the particular geographic location;
display the aerial image; receive information regarding an
approximate location of underground facility locate marks located
at the particular geographic location; and present, on the
displayed aerial image, a marking that identifies the approximate
location of the underground facility locate marks.
[0015] According to still another aspect, a method performed by a
device may include receiving information regarding a particular
geographic area; retrieving an aerial image of the particular
geographic area; receiving, from a GPS-enabled device, information
regarding an approximate location of underground facility locate
marks; displaying, as a combined image, the aerial image and the
information regarding the approximate location of underground
facility locate marks; and storing the combined image.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more
embodiments described herein and, together with the description,
explain these embodiments. In the drawings:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a concept described herein;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network in which systems
and methods described herein may be implemented;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the user
device of FIG. 2;
[0020] FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of the central
server of FIG. 2;
[0021] FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary software routines for
components of FIG. 2;
[0022] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an exemplary process for creating
an electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks;
[0023] FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be
stored in the memory of FIG. 3 and/or FIG. 4; and
[0024] FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary user interface that may
be presented via the user device of FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0025] The following detailed description refers to the
accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different
drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the
following detailed description does not limit the invention.
Overview
[0026] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a concept described herein. When
locating underground facilities at a geographic location, such as
at a dig area 100 associated with a residence or a business, it may
be beneficial to document locate marks in a permanent and
reproducible manner. For example, a locate technician may locate
and mark underground facilities using a locating device and/or a
marking device. A locating device may generally be defined as a
locating wand or another device used to detect the presence of
underground facilities; while a marking device may generally be
defined as any tool to apply paint or other material to a surface,
such as a paint wand. The locate technician may use paint, flags,
or some other object with a particular color or other
characteristic to mark the location of an underground facility.
Referring to the example shown in FIG. 1, the locate technician may
use red paint to mark underground power lines 110, orange paint to
mark telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cable television)
lines 120, and yellow paint to mark gas lines 130.
[0027] The locate technician may also identify one or more
environmental landmarks that are present at or near the dig area
and/or determine the distance between the environmental landmark(s)
and the located underground facility. For example, a transformer
140 may be indicated as an environmental landmark, as shown in FIG.
1. The geographic location of transformer 140 may be used to
measure offsets to other locate marks in the dig area.
[0028] As described herein, documentation of some or all of this
information regarding a locate operation is created as an
electronic manifest. An electronic manifest, as used herein, may
generally refer to one or more computer-readable files that include
some or all of the information in a manifest. The electronic
manifest may be created using aerial images of a dig area, such as
dig area 100, that may be combined with information that is added
by the user about the locate marks and/or the environmental
landmarks. In other implementations, an electronic manifest may be
created using aerial images of a dig area combined with information
about locate marks that is provided by other sources. Other
implementations may use aerial images of a dig area combined with
information that is added by the user and information that is
provided by other sources. As used herein, an "aerial image" is
intended to be broadly interpreted as any image taken from above
the earth's surface, such as, for example, images generated using a
satellite, airplane, helicopter, or other moving or fixed device.
Also as used herein, a "user" may refer to any person operating a
device to create an electronic manifest, such as a locate
technician, a site supervisor, or any other person or group of
people.
Exemplary Network
[0029] FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary network 200 in which
systems and methods described herein may be implemented. As shown
in FIG. 2, the network 200 may include a user device 210 connected
to a central server 220 and an image server 230 via a network 240.
A single user device 210, central server 220, and image server 230
have been illustrated as connected to network 240 for simplicity.
In practice, there may be more or fewer user devices and/or
servers. For example, in one alternative implementation, the user
device 210 may operate as a comprehensive device and, thus, the
network 200 may include no central server, with user device 210
communicating directly through network 240 to image server 230.
Also, in some instances, the user device 210 may perform one or
more of the functions of the central server 220 and/or central
server 220 may perform one or more of the functions of the user
device 210. In still another implementation, multiple user devices
210 may be connected to the central server 220 through the network
240.
[0030] The user device 210 may encompass a computer device, such as
a laptop computer, a small personal computer, a tablet device, a
personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a
touch-screen device, or generally any device including or
connecting to a processor and a display. The user device 210 may be
portable so as to be separately carried by the user performing a
locate operation. Alternatively, the user device 210 may be
integrated with or affixed to another moveable object, such as a
vehicle.
[0031] The central server 220 may include a computer device that
may store information received from or provided to the user device
210 and/or the image server 230. The central server 220 may include
storage capacity and/or optionally include networked access to one
or more separate hardware components, such as images cache 235, to
store cached images and the like.
[0032] The image server 230 may include a computer device that may
store and provide aerial images of geographic locations The image
server 230 may be associated with the same, or a different, party
that maintains the central server 220. For example, the image
server 230 may be associated with a party that provides aerial
images for a fee.
[0033] The network 240 may include a local area network (LAN), a
wide area network (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or a cellular network, an
intranet, the Internet, a communications link, or a combination of
networks. The user device 210, central server 220, and image server
230 may connect to the network 240 via wired and/or wireless
connections. The user device 210 and central server 220 may
communicate using any communication protocol.
Exemplary User Device Architecture
[0034] FIG. 3 is a diagram of exemplary components of the user
device 210. The user device 210 may include a bus 310, a processing
unit 320, a memory 330, an input device 340, an output device 350,
a location identification unit 360, and a communication interface
370. In another implementation, the user device 210 may include
more, fewer, or different components. For example, the location
identification unit 360 may not be included, or the location
identification unit 360 may be included as a device located
external to the user device 210, such as a device worn or carried
by a user of the user device 210.
[0035] The bus 310 may include a path that permits communication
among the components of the user device 210. The processing unit
320 may include a processor, a microprocessor, or processing logic
that may interpret and execute instructions. The memory 330 may
include a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a
memory card, a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its
corresponding drive, or another type of memory device. Generally,
the memory 330 may be sufficient to store and manipulate aerial
images, such as those stored in a local image cache 335. In one
implementation, the local image cache 335 may include one or more
aerial images of a dig area to be marked by a user. In another
implementation, the local image cache 335 may include a series of
aerial images that correspond to the geographical region to which a
particular user is assigned. For example, local image cache 335 may
include a collection of high-resolution images of a particular zip
code or town. In still another implementation, the local image
cache 335 may include an entire set of aerial images intended to be
made available to multiple users.
[0036] The input device 340 may include one or more mechanisms that
permit a user to input information to the user device 210, such as
a keyboard, a keypad, a touchpad, a mouse, a stylus, a touch
screen, a camera, or the like. Alternatively, or additionally, the
input device 340 may include a microphone that can capture a user's
intent by capturing the user's audible commands. Alternatively, or
additionally, the input device 340 may interact with a device that
monitors a condition of the user, such as eye movement, brain
activity, or heart rate. The output device 350 may include a
mechanism that outputs information to the user, such as a display,
a speaker, or the like.
[0037] The location identification unit 360 may include a device
that can determine its geographic location to a certain degree of
accuracy, such as a global positioning system (GPS) or a global
navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver. In another
implementation, the location identification unit 360 may include a
device that determines location using another technique, such as
tower (e.g., cellular tower) triangularization. The location
identification unit 360 may receive location tracking signals
(e.g., GPS signals) and determine its location based on these
signals. In one implementation, location identification unit 360
may be capable of determining its location within approximately
thirty centimeters or less.
[0038] The communication interface 370 may include any
transceiver-like mechanism that enables user device 210 to
communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example, the
communication interface 370 may include mechanisms for
communicating with another device or system via a network. For
example, the communication interface 370 may enable communications
between the user device 210 and the central server 220 and/or image
server 230 over network 240.
[0039] As will be described in detail below, user device 210 may
perform certain operations relating to the documentation of locate
operations and/or the creation of an electronic manifest. User
device 210 may perform these operations in response to the
processing unit 320 executing software instructions contained in a
computer-readable medium, such as the memory 330. A
computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical
memory device.
[0040] The software instructions may be read into the memory 330
from another computer-readable medium, or from another device via
the communication interface 370. The software instructions
contained in the memory 330 may cause processing unit 320 to
perform processes that will be described later. Alternatively,
hardwired circuitry may be used in place of, or in combination
with, software instructions to implement processes described
herein. Thus, implementations described herein are not limited to
any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
Exemplary Central Server Architecture
[0041] FIG. 4 is a diagram of exemplary components of the central
server 220. The central server 220 may include a bus 410, a
processing unit 420, a memory 430, and a communication interface
440. In another implementation, the central server 220 may include
more, fewer, or different components. For example, an input device
and/or an output device (not shown) may be included, as
necessary.
[0042] The bus 410 may include a path that permits communication
among the components of the central server 220. The processing unit
420 may include a processor, a microprocessor, or processing logic
that may interpret and execute instructions. The memory 430 may
include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its
corresponding drive, a RAM, a ROM, a memory card, or another type
of memory device suitable for high capacity data storage.
Generally, the memory 430 may be sufficient to store aerial images
of particular geographic locations, such as those stored in a
central image cache 435. In one implementation, the central image
cache 435 may include a set of aerial images that correspond to the
geographical regions to which a group of users are assigned. In
still another implementation, the central image cache 435 may
include the entire set of aerial images intended to be made
available to any of a group of users. For example, central image
cache 435 may include a collection of high-resolution aerial images
of a particular county, state or other geographic region. In
another implementation, as shown in FIG. 2, central image cache 435
may be replaced or supplemented with one or more networked storage
components, such as image cache 235.
[0043] The communication interface 440 may include any
transceiver-like mechanism that enables the central server 220 to
communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example, the
communication interface 440 may include mechanisms for
communicating with another device or system via a network. For
example, the communication interface 440 may enable communications
between the central server 220 and the user device 210 and/or image
server 230 over network 240.
[0044] As will be described in detail below, the central server 220
may perform certain operations to facilitate the documentation of
locate operations and/or the creation of an electronic manifest.
The central server 220 may perform these operations in response to
the processing unit 420 executing software instructions contained
in a computer-readable medium, such as the memory 430.
[0045] The software instructions may be read into the memory 430
from another computer-readable medium, or from another device via
the communication interface 440. The software instructions
contained in the memory 430 may cause processing unit 420 to
perform processes that will be described later. Alternatively,
hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with
software instructions to implement processes described herein.
Thus, implementations described herein are not limited to any
specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.
Exemplary Routines
[0046] FIG. 5 is a diagram of exemplary software routines for the
components shown in FIG. 2. The central server 220 may include an
image retrieval routine 510 and a central image cache routine 520.
The user device 210 may include a synchronize routine 530, a local
image cache routine 540, an image display routine 550, a user input
routine 560, and a ticket manager routine 570. As discussed in more
detail herein, the examples of routines associated with the central
server 220 and the user device 210 may be interchangeable between
each hardware component. Furthermore, some or all of routines 510,
520, 530, 540, 550, 560, and 570 need not be performed exclusively
by any one hardware component.
[0047] Still referring to FIG. 5, the image server 230 may store a
library of aerial images. Generally, the aerial images may be of
sufficient resolution at an optimal elevation to be useful as a
record of the locate operation. The aerial images from the image
server 230 may include geocoding or other geographical
identification metadata and may be provided in any
computer-readable format, such as JPEG file interchange format
(JPEG), tagged image file format (TIFF), portable document format
(PDF), graphics interchange format (GIF), bitmap (BMP), portable
network graphics (PNG), Windows.RTM. metafile (WMF), and/or the
like. Also, aerial images from the image server 230 may include a
combination of images or overlays, such as overlays of street
names, regions, landmark descriptions, and/or other information
about areas displayed in an image. The aerial images from the image
server 230 may be supplied by a third-party provider if the
coverage area of the third-party image provider overlaps with the
desired area of the user.
[0048] The central image cache routine 510 and the image retrieval
routine 520 of the central server 220 may include a variety of
functionalities. In certain implementations, the central image
cache routine 510 may receive information about specific tickets
and parse tickets in order to discern location information. For
example, a ticket may identify the dig area by an address of the
property or by geographic coordinates. The ticket might specify,
for example, the address or description of the dig area to be
marked, the day and/or time that the dig area is to be marked,
and/or whether the user is to mark the dig area for
telecommunications (e.g., telephone and/or cable television),
power, gas, water, sewer, or some other underground facility.
[0049] The central image cache routine 510 may also convert dig
area location information to latitude/longitude coordinates or
other coordinates. When location information from a ticket is
sufficiently precise to allow for identification of corresponding
imagery, the central image cache routine 510 may calculate the
image extent (which may be generally defined as the bounding region
of the dig area of interest), and update the ticket with the
calculated extent. In one implementation, the central image cache
routine 510 may determine image date, coordinates, and resolution
of each image that may be stored in the central image cache 435 or
in another location. In another implementation, when location
information from a ticket is imprecise (or "fuzzy"), the central
image cache routine 510 may mark the ticket to indicate that no
corresponding image was able to be retrieved based on the ticket
information.
[0050] In another implementation, central image cache 510 may
identify an image to retrieve based on GPS coordinates of a
GPS-enabled device associated with a user. For example, a user may
arrive at an excavation site in a GPS-enabled vehicle and the GPS
information from the vehicle may be used to identify coordinates
corresponding to an image to be retrieved. GPS coordinates may also
be obtained from other GPS-enabled devices being used by or in the
vicinity of the user. As used herein a GPS-enabled device may
include any device or combination of devices capable of interfacing
with a global navigation satellite system, geo-spatial positioning
system, or other location-identification system to determine a
location. Examples of GPS-enabled devices may include a marking
device (e.g., a paint wand) with an integrated GPS receiver; a
locating device (e.g., a locating wand) with a GPS receiver; a
wearable GPS-enabled device; a vehicle-mounted GPS system; certain
PDAs, computers, and cellular telephones; and stand-alone
GPS-enabled systems.
[0051] In still another implementation, central image cache 510 may
identify one or more images to request based on a designated
geographical area assigned to a user. For example, a user may be
assigned to work in several dig areas associated with a particular
section of a neighborhood. The user may input coordinates
associated with the entire selected section of the neighborhood,
and central image cache 510 may then retrieve images for those
coordinates.
[0052] The image retrieval routine 520 catalogues and stores images
from the image server 230 to the central server 220. For example,
images may be stored in the central image cache 435 in the memory
430 of the central server 220. In one implementation, the image
retrieval routine 520 may query the central image cache 435 or
other cache for an image associated with a particular dig area
relating to a ticket of interest, and determine, based on (for
example) the age and resolution of the cached image, whether the
image in the central image cache 435 needs to be updated from the
image server 230.
[0053] In another implementation, the image retrieval routine 520
may interface with multiple image providers and image servers 230.
The image retrieval routine 520 may determine which image provider
is the best source for the image corresponding to a particular dig
area relating to a ticket of interest based on algorithms that
factor, for example, each image provider's geographical coverage,
image resolution, cost, and availability. Regarding geographical
coverage, it will be beneficial to confirm that the image
provider's area of coverage includes the desired extent (in other
words, the entire geographical region of interest to the user).
[0054] Regarding image resolution, available resolution may be
measured in meters (or centimeters, feet, or inches) per pixel. For
example, one provider may offer thirty centimeters per pixel, while
another offers fifteen centimeters or less per pixel, for the same
coverage area. If an image is requested at a standard altitude,
then the image retrieval routine 520 may choose a pre-defined
optimal scale (for example, thirty centimeters per pixel for a
rural area, but fifteen centimeters per pixel for an urban area)
and determine which provider provides images at the pre-defined
optimal scale. Alternatively, if the image of interest is at a less
granular scale (for example, a community or neighborhood image that
allows the locator to pan around the image), then resolution may
not be a significant factor.
[0055] Regarding cost, the image retrieval routine 520 may have
access to pricing information for a variety of image providers. The
image retrieval routine 520 may identify which provider has the
lowest cost for the desired image. Cost analysis may be based on
images desired for an individual ticket or the algorithm may
account for a group of image requests, including volume incentives
and/or penalties from each image provider
[0056] Regarding availability of image providers, the image
retrieval routine 520 may identify what providers are available
and/or operational. Also, if an image provider has a regular
latency profile (for example, if a provider has a particular server
that is busiest 3-5 PM Pacific time), then the image retrieval
routine 520 may manage requests to be provided to another image
provider or to a particular server of that image provider to
efficiently load share the image retrieval.
[0057] When an image provider is selected, the image retrieval
routine 520 may download the image from the selected image
provider's server, which may be an image server 230. The downloaded
image may be stored locally, for example, in the central image
cache 435.
[0058] It should be understood that some of the routines and/or
functionalities described above with respect to the central image
cache routine 510 and the image retrieval routine 520 may be
performed by one or both of the routines 510 and 520 above, and the
arrangement of functionalities are not limited to the
implementations disclosed herein.
[0059] The synchronize routine 530 for user device 210 may ensure
that images already stored and manipulated on the user device 210
correspond to images stored in the central server 220. When a user
performing a locate operation identifies a ticket or dig area, the
synchronize routine 530 may check if an image exists in the central
server 220 that matches the extent requested, and if the matching
image is up-to-date in, for example, the local image cache 335. The
synchronize routine 530 may also synchronize images from the
central server 220 cache and store copies locally in the user
device 210.
[0060] If the ticket has a valid extent (i.e., a recognizable
boundary), the local image cache routine 540 may associate the
ticket information with an image matching the extent. The local
image cache routine 540 may load the image from the local image
cache 335. If the ticket does not have a valid extent, the local
image cache routine 540 may accept address information that is
entered by the user. Alternatively, the local image cache routine
540 may read the local address information from the ticket or from
a GPS-enabled device in communication with the user device 210 so
that address information may be pre-entered for the user to the
extent possible. Address information may include, for example, a
street address, street name, city, state and/or zip code. If either
none or multiple stored addresses appear to be associated with
particular address information, the local image cache routine 540
may display a list of best match addresses from which a user can
select.
[0061] Once an image is loaded from the local cache 335, image
display routine 550 may provide a variety of view options for the
user. For example, the image display routine 550 may support
zooming in and out of the image by changing the image scale. Also,
the image display routine 550 may support panning horizontally and
vertically in the image. Furthermore, the image display routine 550
may support "roaming" outside the boundaries of the initial extent.
Roaming generally occurs when the user zooms or pans, such that
images beyond the boundaries of the stored images may be required
to be retrieved (using, for example, synchronize routine 530) from
either the local image cache 335 or the central server 220. The
additional images retrieved from either the local image cache 335
or the central server 220 may be displayed and stitched together to
display a complete image.
[0062] The user input routine 560 allows the user to add
information to the image to create an electronic manifest. The user
input routine 560 may accept user input from, for example, input
device 340, and may support the addition of lines, freehand forms
(or scribbling), shapes such as circles and rectangles, shading, or
other markings which denote the approximate location of underground
facilities which are present within the dig area. A drawing shape
may generally be any kind of drawing shape or mark. The user input
routine 560 may further enable drawing of underground facility
locate marks for telecommunications (e.g., telephone and cable
television), gas, power, water, sewer, and the like, so that each
type of drawn locate mark is distinguishable from the other(s). The
user input routine 560 may limit the display of such facilities by
the type of work which is to be performed according to the
instructions included within the user's assigned ticket. In
addition to the marking of the underground facility locate marks on
the aerial image, user input routine 560 may also include offsets
from environmental landmarks that may be displayed on the image in,
for example, English or metric units. Environmental landmarks may
also be marked and/or highlighted on the aerial image. The user
input routine 560 may also accept positioning information from
external sources, such as a GPS-enabled device. The user input
routine 560 may further include features to annotate the image with
text and to revise user inputs by, for example deleting, dragging
or pasting shapes. In one implementation, when the user zooms the
image view in or out, user input (e.g., lines and/or shapes) that
have been added to the original image may adhere to the changing
image scale and remain in the original user-input locations.
[0063] The electronic manifest, which is a compilation of the
aerial image and user inputs, may be saved as an image file. In
another implementation, the user inputs may be saved in a mark-up
format, including the geo-coordinates and underground facility type
of each input.
[0064] In one implementation, the user device 210 may interface
with a ticket management program for coordinating multiple tickets.
The ticket manager routine 570 may facilitate such an interface.
The ticket management program for coordinating multiple tickets may
reside on the central server 220, for example, or on a separate
server that is accessible to the user device 210. Generally,
tickets may be stored on a central server and assigned to a user.
When a user edits a ticket, the user may also have created an
electronic manifest associated with the ticket. The ticket manager
routine 570 may allow the user to synchronize the user's ticket
cache with the company's central database and also synchronize the
images and user input. The ticket manager routine 570 may copy
images from the central server 220 to the user device 210 for new
tickets, and will copy the user input from the user device 210 to
the central server 220 for completed tickets. The ticket manager
routine 570 may interface with the routines described above to
correlate a user's assigned tickets with images for those tickets
and download the images to the user device from the central server
220. The ticket manager routine 570 may retrieve the corresponding
ticket number from the ticket management program when the user
retrieves an image, or the ticket manager routine 570 may retrieve
the image corresponding to an entered ticket number.
[0065] FIG. 6 provides a flowchart 600 of an exemplary process for
creating an electronic manifest relating to underground facility
locate marks. In one implementation, at least some of the blocks of
FIG. 6 may be performed using user device 210 (FIG. 2). In another
implementation, one or more of the blocks of FIG. 6 may be manually
performed or performed by another device, such as central server
220.
[0066] The process 600 may begin with a user being dispatched to a
dig area to be located. The user might be given a ticket that
identifies what underground facilities the user needs to locate at
the dig area. The ticket might specify, for example, the address or
description of the dig area to be located, the day and/or time that
the dig area is to be located, and/or whether the user is to locate
the dig area for telecommunications, power, gas, water, sewer, or
other underground facility. Based on information in the ticket, or
other information about the dig area to be located, user device 210
in block 610 may associate the property address with a stored
aerial image of the dig area. Such association may include
associating the address with geographic location information, such
as global positioning coordinates for the dig area extent (or
boundary).
[0067] In block 620, the stored aerial image associated with the
dig area to be located is retrieved from a cache of images and
loaded into the user device 210. As previously described discussed
herein with respect to FIG. 5, the cache of images may reside
within the user device 210, the central server 220, a separate
image server, or another storage device.
[0068] In block 630, the user may perform a locate operation to
locate the underground facilities present within the dig area and
mark the located underground facilities using a locating device
and/or marking device, or a combined locating/marking device. For
example, the user may use the locating device to identify an
underground facility at the dig area, and may use the marking
device to mark the underground facility with the appropriate marker
(e.g., color paint, flag, or some other object). In certain
implementations, information regarding the approximate geographic
location of the applied underground facility locate marks may be
gathered and stored electronically using a GPS-enabled device or
other location identification device. The approximate geographic
location of the underground facility locate marks may be
determined, for example, by identifying the current geographic
location of the GPS-enabled device as the user performs the
locating or marking. In another implementation, a user may use a
triangularization technique to determine the approximate geographic
location of the underground facility locate marks. In yet another
implementation, a user may determine latitude and longitude
coordinates or some other measurement of a geographic location.
[0069] In block 640, information about the approximate geographic
location of the underground facility locate marks may be added to
the stored aerial image that was retrieved previously in block 620.
The information about the approximate geographic location of the
underground facility locate marks may be input by the user using an
input device, such as input device 340 (FIG. 3) of user device 210.
Additional aspects regarding information to be input by the user is
discussed in more detail herein with respect to FIG. 8.
[0070] Still referring to block 640, information about the
approximate geographic location of the underground facility locate
marks may also be received directly from a GPS-enabled device, such
as the GPS-enabled locating device or marking device used in block
630, and overlaid on the retrieved image. The user may use of a
combination of received GPS information and manual entries to
create an electronic manifest of the underground facility locate
marks.
[0071] In block 645, if necessary, information about offsets of the
underground facility locate marks from environmental landmarks may
be added to the stored aerial image that was retrieved previously
in block 620. As with the input of the facility locations in block
640, the location of the environmental landmarks may be input by
the user using an input device, such as input device 340 (FIG. 3)
of user device 210, or automatically input from a GPS-enabled
device. The offset information may be automatically calculated or
input by the user. Offset information may also be obtained by
identifying selected environmental landmarks on the retrieved image
and automatically calculating the distance from the selected
environmental landmarks to the underground facility locate marks
overlaid on the image.
[0072] In block 650, if necessary, information about the location
of the underground facility locate marks may be converted to GPS
coordinates. In block 660, the retrieved aerial image and
information about the location of the underground facility locate
marks may be stored in memory as a single combined image or
electronic manifest. The electronic manifest may be stored as, or
example, a digital image or an interactive electronic map.
Additionally or alternatively, in block 670, the geographical
coordinates of the underground facility locate marks may be stored
in memory, such as memory 330 (FIG. 3), as a separate data set. The
data set may be compiled as, for example, a database of GPS
coordinates. In block 680, the combined image and/or separate data
set may optionally be transmitted to a central location, such as
central server 220 (FIG. 2).
[0073] FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary data set that may be
stored in memory 330 and/or transmitted to server 220. As shown in
FIG. 7, a data set 700 may include a timestamp field 710, an
underground facility identifier field 720, an underground facility
location field 730, an environmental landmark identifier field 740,
an environmental landmark location field 750, an other information
field 760, a marking method field 770, a property address field
780, and a ticket number field 790. In another implementation, the
data set 700 may include additional, fewer, or different
fields.
[0074] Timestamp field 710 may include time data that identifies
the day and/or time that the environmental landmark location was
identified. The time data in timestamp field 710 is shown in FIG. 7
as 9:43 a.m. on Oct. 20, 2005--although any type of date and/or
time code may be used. The information in timestamp field 710 may
be useful in establishing when a locate operation occurred.
[0075] The underground facility identifier field 720 may include an
identifier that uniquely identifies the type of underground
facility that was marked. The identifier in underground facility
identifier field 720 is shown in FIG. 7 as "power"--although any
type of identifier may be used. Underground facility location field
730 may include geographic location information corresponding to an
underground facility locate mark. In one implementation, the
geographic location information may include a set of geographic
points along the marking path of the located underground facility.
The geographic location information in underground facility
location field 730 is shown in FIG. 7 as N38.degree. 51.40748,
W077.degree. 20.27798; . . . ; N38.degree. 51.40784, W077.degree.
20.27865--although any type of geographic location information may
be used. The information in underground facility location field 730
may be useful in graphically presenting the underground facility
locate marks on a map, and/or to verify that the locate operation
was actually and accurately performed. Additionally, or
alternatively, underground facility location field 730 may include
geographic location information for multiple underground facility
locate marks.
[0076] Environmental landmark identifier field 740 may include an
identifier that uniquely identifies the type of environmental
landmark being marked. The identifier in environmental landmark
identifier field 740 is shown in FIG. 7 as "curb"--although any
type of identifier may be used.
[0077] Environmental landmark location field 750 may include
geographic location information corresponding to the environmental
landmark identified in environmental landmark identifier field 740.
The geographic location information in environmental landmark
location field 750 is shown in FIG. 7 as N38.degree. 51.40756,
W077.degree. 20.27805; . . . ; N38.degree. 51.40773, W077.degree.
20.27858--although any type of geographic location information may
be used.
[0078] Other information field 760 may store other data that may be
useful, including user notes, such as distance information that
identifies a distance between one or more environmental landmarks
and one or more underground facility locate marks. Other
information field 760 is shown in FIG. 7 as including "1.2 meters
between curb and power line"--although any other data may be used.
Additionally and/or alternatively, other information field 760 may
include audio/voice data, transcribed voice-recognition data, or
the like to incorporate user notes.
[0079] The underground facility owner field 765 may include the
name of the owner/operator of the underground facility that has
been marked during the locate operation. For example, in FIG. 7,
the underground facility owner field 765 is shown as "ABC Corp."
Because multiple underground facilities may be marked during a
single locate operation, it may be beneficial to associate each
marked underground facility with a particular owner/operator.
Marking method field 770 may indicate the type of marking used at
the dig area to indicate the location of an underground facility.
For example, in FIG. 7, marking method field 770 is shown
indicating red paint. Property address field 780 may be the
property address associated with the marking recorded in the data
set 700. The property address field 780 may include, for example,
the street address and zip code of the property. Other information
in field 780 may include city, state, and/or county identifiers.
The ticket number field 790 may include the ticket number
associated with the locate operation, such as ticket "1234567"
shown in FIG. 7.
[0080] In one implementation, the user device 210 may store
multiple data sets corresponding to multiple underground facilities
identified at a particular dig area. User device 210 may provide
the data sets to server 220 in a batch--such as a batch
corresponding to the group of underground facilities documented
within the electronic manifest--or individually. The batch may be
grouped together with other information generally relating to the
locate operation, such as the name of the company responsible for
performing the locate operation, the name of the locate technician,
and the like. Additionally, or alternatively, the other information
generally relating to the locate operation may be included in each
data set.
[0081] FIG. 8 an exemplary diagram of a user interface 340 that may
be presented via the user device 210. The user interface may be
presented on a screen 800 that may be the screen of the user device
210, as described herein with respect to FIG. 2. The screen 800 may
display a variety of graphical elements, including but not limited
to: a map control 810, an address search panel 820, a locator
palette 830, a navigation palette 840, a status bar 850, a menu bar
860, a service grid 870, and a scale bar 880.
[0082] Map control 810 generally may be the surface, or canvas,
where images--such as an exemplary image 802--are displayed. The
user may draw or input shapes "on top of" this surface using for
example, the input device 340 of FIG. 3 to identify underground
facility locate mark locations. FIG. 8 shows a stylus 804 as an
exemplary form of input device 340.
[0083] The address search panel 820 may be used to identify images
corresponding to a desired address. Panel 820 may, for example,
accept a partial or complete address and allow the user to search
for matches. If an excessive number of addresses match the search,
then the size of the result set may be constrained. Address search
results may be displayed which match the address search. The listed
matches may serve as a springboard for displaying the image desired
by the user. For example, when the user taps with a stylus 802 on
an address match, the user device 210 may load the image
corresponding to the selected address. As described above, this
image may be stored locally on user device 210 or retrieved from
central server 220.
[0084] Palettes may be generally defined as a toolbar or toolbars
containing soft buttons or other controls that are grouped in some
logical order. The buttons on a palette may duplicate the commands
available on the menu bar 860. The locator palette 830 may allow
the user to select the type of underground facility locate marks
(e.g., electric, gas, water, sewer, telecommunications, etc.) the
user will draw on the image 802. The locator palette 830 may also
include a choice of various shapes or shades, such as freestyle,
line, circle, rectangle, or other polygon that the user may select
to draw on the image 802. In one implementation, the locator
palette 830 may present a list of potential environmental landmark
identifiers. In this case, the user may select an environmental
landmark identifier from the list to overlay at the appropriate
place on the aerial image 802.
[0085] The locator palette 830 may also include an offset tool that
allows the user to mark the distance between, for example, an
environmental landmark identifier and a drawn underground facility
locate mark. Once the user has chosen the type of shape they wish
to draw (freestyle, line, polygon, shading etc.) the application
may track the user's movements to define the layout and location of
the shape. The shape may be completed when the user terminates the
drawing (for example, by lifting the stylus 804 or releasing the
mouse button). A text label or other indicator may be added to the
shape automatically based on the type of underground facility
locate mark or environmental landmark selected (e.g., "electric" or
"curb") or may be manually added.
[0086] The navigation palette 840 may allow the user to zoom or pan
the image 802. For example, the navigation palette 840 may include
selections to zoom in, zoom out, or zoom to a selected section of
the image. The navigation palette 840 may also include pan command
buttons to pan left, pan right, pan up or pan down. Other
selections that may be available on the navigation palette include
buttons to alter the transparency of either the image 802 or the
underground facility locate marks.
[0087] The status bar 850 may display information about the map
control, such as the coordinates of the subject area, the
coordinates of a cursor or stylus in relation to the image 802, and
the image scale. The menu bar 860 may include an operating system
element that allows a user to access commands, such as exiting the
application, selecting what palettes or panels to display, or
accessing online help.
[0088] The service grid 870 is shown as an exemplary "floating"
window to show how the user interface for the screen 800 may
operate in a typical operating system environment. The service grid
870 or any of the other graphical elements described in relation to
screen 800 may be in a fixed or floating orientation. As
underground facility locate marks are drawn on the map control 810,
they may appear in a list in the service grid 870. Thus, the user
may edit the properties of an underground facility shape using the
service grid 870, as well as by selecting the shape in the map
control 810. The service grid may include properties, such as the
type, length, circumference, and material of the marked underground
facility.
[0089] An electronic manifest of underground facility locate marks
may serve several purposes. For example, the electronic manifest
may provide significant improvements in accuracy and save time for
the locate technician. Manual sketching is time consuming and
imprecise. For example, with manual sketching, the general
geographic features of the dig area location, i.e. roads,
sidewalks, landscaping, buildings, and other landmarks, must be
reproduced by the locate technician. Creation of an electronic
manifest that includes drafting on retrieved aerial images may
improve accuracy and eliminate drafting of these general geographic
features.
[0090] Additionally, or alternatively, an electronic manifest of
underground facility locate marks may provide a variety of data
formats from a single user event. For example, electronic drafting
creates data about the electronic manifest which can be reviewed
without viewing the image. The type of marked underground
facilities can be determined based upon the existence of different
colors or other coding schema, length of marks for each underground
facility can be approximated, and the existence and length of
offsets detected. If available, the location of the marks can be
cross-checked to the user's description or depiction of the area to
be marked or excavated.
[0091] Additionally, or alternatively, an electronic manifest of
underground facility locate marks may provide for easier
dissemination and record-keeping. Electronic manifests can be
associated with individual tickets and recalled electronically,
avoiding the uncertainties and errors associated with manual filing
systems. Furthermore, electronic manifests can be interrogated to
ensure that the information recorded on the electronic manifest
accurately comports with billing data or other information
regarding the locate operation(s) performed.
[0092] Additionally, or alternatively, information from the
electronic manifest regarding the distance between environmental
landmarks and located underground facility locate marks may be used
to verify subsequent locate operations or the accuracy of the
electronic manifest. For example, if the information identifies an
underground facility as running parallel to the curb at a distance
of three meters, that information may be used to assess the
accuracy or consistency of a subsequent locate operation at the
same dig area or, upon inspection, the accuracy of the electronic
manifest.
[0093] Additionally, or alternatively, information from the
electronic manifest regarding the number and types of underground
facilities may be used to estimate the scope of a subsequent locate
operation to be performed at a dig area. For example, a large
number of underground facilities may be indicative of an extensive
(i.e., time-consuming) locate operation.
[0094] Additionally, or alternatively, information from the
electronic manifest may be used by a quality control supervisor
and/or damage inspector to verify the accuracy of the underground
facility locate marks. For example, if the user who performed a
locate operation indicated that an underground facility runs
parallel to a driveway at a distance of two meters, then the
quality control supervisor or damage inspector may use this
information to verify whether the marks properly reflected the
actual location of the underground facilities present within the
dig area. Also information from the electronic manifest may be used
to train a user and/or to perform quality control relating to a
user's work.
CONCLUSION
[0095] Aspects of the invention as described herein enable
retrieving from a database the appropriate aerial image of a
specific geographic location, or dig area, where locate operations
are to be conducted for underground facilities. The user may draft,
on the retrieved image, a variety of features, including but not
limited to (1) the type of underground facilities marked using an
appropriate color or other coding schema, (2) the number of
underground facilities marked within the dig area, (3) the
approximate geographic location of each set of underground facility
locate marks, and (4) the appropriate environmental landmark
offsets for each set of underground facility locate marks. The
combination of the retrieved image and additional information
drafted by the user may be saved in a variety of formats as an
electronic manifest. Other information regarding the specific
geographic location of the locate marks and environmental landmarks
may be incorporated into the electronic manifest using direct input
from GPS-enabled positioning tools and the like.
[0096] The foregoing description is not intended to be exhaustive
or to limit the description to the precise form disclosed.
Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above
disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the invention.
[0097] For example, certain information was described as being
presented visually on a screen of user device 210. In other
implementations, this information may be audibly provided to the
user. Also, particular information was described as being input via
an input device 340, such as a screen of user device 210. In other
implementations, this information may be provided in other ways,
such as by receiving inputs via input keys and/or buttons, by
recognizing speech of the user, or by monitoring a condition of the
user. More particularly, the input device 340 may be capable of
capturing signals that reflect a user's intent. For example, the
input device 340 may include a microphone that can capture a user's
intent by capturing the user's audible commands. Alternatively, the
input device 340 may interact with a device that monitors a
condition of the user, such as eye movement, brain activity, or
heart rate.
[0098] As another example, certain components, such as user device
210 and central server 220 were described as using an image cache.
In other implementations, user device 210 and/or central server 220
may communicate with an image server (such as imager server 230) in
real-time, so that no image cache may be required. In still other
implementations, the user device 210 may, for example, communicate
in real time with the central server 220.
[0099] As another example, it should be noted that reference to a
GPS-enabled device is not limited to GPS systems only, and that any
global navigation satellite system or other system that provides
geo-spatial positioning may be used in implementations of the
invention.
[0100] Also, while a series of blocks has been described with
regard to FIG. 6, the order of the blocks may be modified in other
implementations. Further, non-dependent blocks may be performed in
parallel.
[0101] It will be apparent that aspects, as described above, may be
implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and
hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The
actual software code or specialized control hardware used to
implement these aspects is not limiting of the description provided
herein. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were
described without reference to the specific software code--it being
understood that software and control hardware can be designed to
implement the aspects based on the description herein.
[0102] Even though particular combinations of features are recited
in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these
combinations are not intended to limit the invention. In fact, many
of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited
in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification.
[0103] No element, act, or instruction used in the present
application should be construed as critical or essential to the
invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used
herein, the article "a" is intended to include one or more items.
Where only one item is intended, the term "one" or similar language
is used. Further, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based,
at least in part, on" unless explicitly stated otherwise.
* * * * *