Methods and apparatus for overlaying electronic locate information on facilities map information and/or other image information displayed on a locate device

A method for displaying information on a locate receiver having a housing, an RF antenna for receiving a magnetic field and outputting an output signal, a processing circuit for receiving the output signal from the RF antenna and determining a magnetic field strength of the magnetic field indicative of a presence or an absence of an underground facility, at least one sensor to output geographic information indicative of a geographic location of the locate receiver, a display device coupled to the housing, at least one memory, and at least one processor coupled to the processing circuit, the at least one sensor, the display device and the at least one memory, the method comprising:

• obtaining ticket information from a ticket associated with a locate operation for which the locate receiver is used to detect the presence or the absence of the underground facility, wherein the ticket information is indicative of a facility type of the underground facility;
• selecting digital image data for display on the display device, the digital image data being selected based at least in part on:
• the ticket information indicative of the facility type to be located;
• and
• the geographic information output by the at least one sensor and indicative of the geographic location of the locate receiver;
• displaying on the display device a digital image, wherein the digital image is generated based on the selected digital image data, and wherein the selected digital image data includes at least one of facilities map data, survey map data, land survey data, photographic image data, construction drawings, and engineering drawings;
• and
• overlaying on the displayed digital image, based at least in part on the magnetic field strength of the magnetic field, at least one electronic marking representing a detected presence of the underground facility.

At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed on at least one processor in a locate receiver having a housing, an RF antenna for receiving a magnetic field and outputting an output signal, a processing circuit for receiving the output signal from the RF antenna and determining a magnetic field strength of the magnetic field indicative of a presence or an absence of an underground facility, at least one sensor to output geographic information indicative of a geographic location of the locate receiver, a display device coupled to the housing, at least one memory, and at least one processor coupled to the processing circuit, the at least one sensor, the display device and the at least one memory, causes the at least one processor to perform a method comprising:

• obtaining ticket information from a ticket associated with a locate operation for which the locate receiver is used to detect the presence or the absence of the underground facility, wherein the ticket information is indicative of a facility type of the underground facility;
• selecting digital image data for display on the display device, the digital image data being selected based at least in part on:
• the ticket information indicative of the facility type to be located;
• and
• the geographic information output by the at least one sensor and indicative of the geographic location of the locate receiver;
• displaying on the display device a digital image, wherein the digital image is generated based on the selected digital image data, and wherein the selected digital image data includes at least one of facilities map data, survey map data, land survey data, photographic image data, construction drawings, and engineering drawings;
• and
• overlaying on the displayed digital image, based at least in part on the magnetic field strength of the magnetic field, at least one electronic marking representing a detected presence of the underground facility.