Methods and apparatus for analyzing locate and marking operations with respect to environmental landmarks

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) receives first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation performed at the work site by at least one technician using at least one piece of locate equipment, 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;
• at least one electronic marking on the at least one image of the work site, the at least one electronic marking indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility and/or at least one environmental landmark at the work site;
• and
• first geographic information indicating a physical location at the work site corresponding to the at least one electronic marking on the at least one image of the work site;
• B) receives second information relating to a presence or an absence of one or more reference environmental landmarks at or proximate to the work site;
• C) determines an expected type and/or an expected location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one environmental landmark at the work site based at least in part on the second information received in B);
• D) determines, according to at least one predetermined criterion, a correspondence or discrepancy between the first information including the electronic manifest and the expected type and/or the expected location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one environmental landmark;
• E) automatically generates, based at least in part on D), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation to identify the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility at the work site;
• and
• F) 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.

At least one non-transitory computer-readable 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) receiving first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation performed at the work site by at least one technician using at least one piece of locate equipment, 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;
• at least one electronic marking on the at least one image of the work site, the at least one electronic marking indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility and/or at least one environmental landmark at the work site;
• and
• first geographic information indicating a physical location at the work site corresponding to the at least one electronic marking on the at least one image of the work site;
• B) receiving second information relating to a presence or an absence of one or more reference environmental landmarks at or proximate to the work site;
• C) determining an expected type and/or an expected location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one environmental landmark at the work site based at least in part on the second information received in B);
• D) determining, according to at least one predetermined criterion, a correspondence or discrepancy between the first information including the electronic manifest and the expected type and/or the expected location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one environmental landmark;
• E) automatically generating, based at least in part on D), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation to identify the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility at the work site;
• and
• F) 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.