Methods and apparatus for analyzing locate and marking operations by comparing locate information and marking information

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 marking information relating to the marking operation to locate information relating to the locate operation, wherein:
• the marking information includes a first set of geo-location data points indicating first geographic locations at which at least one facility line of the at least one underground facility was marked during the locate and/or marking operation;
• and
• the locate information includes a second set of geo-location data points indicating second geographic locations at which the at least one facility line of the at least one underground facility was detected during the locate and/or marking operation,
• 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 at least one point in the first set and a nearest point in the second set to generate at least one distance value;
• B1) automatically generates, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation as a score or grade having one of a plurality of possible values;
• and
• B2) automatically assigns to the locate and/or marking operation the score or grade as the at least one indication of the 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;
• wherein at least one of the marking information and the locate information includes at least two of:
• at least one location at which 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 a 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;
• environmental information describing at least one environmental condition present during the locate and/or marking operation;
• service-related information including one or more identifiers for the field-service technician performing the locate and/or marking operation, the locating equipment and/or a locate contractor dispatching the field-service technician;
• ticket information relating to a locate request ticket for the locate and/or marking operation;
• and
• device health information about a status of one or more components of the locating equipment.

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 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 marking information relating to the marking operation to locate information relating to the locate operation, wherein:
• the marking information includes a first set of geo-location data points indicating first geographic locations at which at least one facility line of the at least one underground facility was marked during the locate and/or marking operation;
• and
• the locate information includes a second set of geo-location data points indicating second geographic locations at which the at least one facility line of the at least one underground facility was detected during the locate and/or marking operation,
• 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 at least one point in the first set and a nearest point in the second set to generate at least one distance value;
• B1) automatically generating, based on A), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and marking operation;
• B2) generating the at least one indication of the quality assessment as a score or grade having one of a plurality of possible values;
• B3) assigning to the locate and/or marking operation the score or grade as the at least one indication of the quality assessment of the locate and/or 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;
• wherein at least one of the marking information and the locate information includes at least two of:
• at least one location at which 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 a 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;
• environmental information describing at least one environmental condition present during the locate and/or marking operation;
• service-related information including one or more identifiers for the field-service technician performing the locate and/or marking operation, the locating equipment and/or a locate contractor dispatching the field-service technician;
• ticket information relating to a locate request ticket for the locate and/or marking operation;
• and
• device health information about a status of one or more components of the locating equipment.

An apparatus for automatically assessing a quality of a locate and/or marking operation, the apparatus comprising:

• a memory storing processor-executable instructions;
• at least one I/O interface;
• and
• a processor coupled to the memory and the at least one I/O interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the processor:
• A) identifies at least one first geographic location at which at least one facility line of at least one underground facility was marked during the marking operation;
• B) obtains marking geo-location data based on A) to provide at least some marking information;
• C) identifies at least one second geographic location at which the at least one facility line of at least one underground facility was detected during the locate operation;
• D) obtains locate geo-location data based C) to provide at least some locate information;
• E) determines a measure of distances between the marking geo-location data and the locate geo-location data;
• F) assesses the quality of the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on E);
• and
• G) generates at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation based on F), wherein in G) the processor generates the at least one indication of the quality assessment based, at least in part, on a percentage of distances determined in E) that are less than a first threshold;
• wherein at least one of the marking information and the locate information further includes at least two of:
• at least one location at which 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 a 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;
• environmental information describing at least one environmental condition present during the locate and/or marking operation;
• service-related information including one or more identifiers for the field-service technician performing the locate and/or marking operation, the locating equipment and/or a locate contractor dispatching the field-service technician;
• ticket information relating to a locate request ticket for the locate and/or marking operation;
• and
• device health information about a status of one or more components of the locating equipment.