Methods and apparatus for analyzing locate and marking operations

A method for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation, performed by a field technician at a work site of proposed excavation in response to a locate request ticket, to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at the work site, wherein the locate request ticket comprises first information representative of at least one of:

• an address of the work site;
• at least one expected type of the at least one underground facility;
• an expected number of the at least one underground facility;
• at least one expected owner of the at least one underground facility;
• and
• an expected time of the locate and/or marking operation,
• the method comprising:
• A) displaying, via at least one display device, a first portion of a graphical user interface based at least in part on the first information from the locate request ticket;
• B) displaying, via the at least one display device, a second portion of the graphical user interface based at least in part on second information relating to the locate and/or marking operation as performed at the work site by the field technician;
• C) generating, via at least one processor, at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on a comparison of at least some of the first information and at least some of the second information;
• and
• D) electronically storing via at least one memory, and/or electronically transmitting via at least one communication interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, perform a method for evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation, performed by a field technician at a work site of proposed excavation in response to a locate request ticket, to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at the work site, wherein the locate request ticket comprises first information representative of at least one of:

• an address of the work site;
• at least one expected type of the at least one underground facility;
• an expected number of the at least one underground facility;
• at least one expected owner of the at least one underground facility;
• and
• an expected time of the locate and/or marking operation,
• the method comprising:
• A) displaying, via at least one display device, a first portion of a graphical user interface based at least in part on the first information from the locate request ticket;
• B) displaying, via the at least one display device, a second portion of the graphical user interface based at least in part on second information relating to the locate and/or marking operation as performed at the work site by the field technician;
• C) generating, via at least one processor, at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on a comparison of at least some of the first information and at least some of the second information;
• and
• D) electronically storing via at least one memory, and/or electronically transmitting via at least one communication interface, the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.

An apparatus to facilitate evaluating a quality of a locate and/or marking operation, performed by a field technician at a work site of proposed excavation in response to a locate request ticket, to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at the work site, wherein the locate request ticket comprises first information representative of at least one of:

• an address of the work site;
• at least one expected type of the at least one underground facility;
• an expected number of the at least one underground facility;
• at least one expected owner of the at least one underground facility;
• and
• an expected time of the locate and/or marking operation,
• the apparatus comprising:
• at least one communication interface;
• at least one display device to provide a graphical user interface;
• at least one memory storing processor-executable instructions;
• and
• a processor coupled to the at least one memory, the at least one display device, and the at least one communication interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processor, the processor:
• A) controls the at least one display device to display a first portion of the graphical user interface based at least in part on the first information from the locate request ticket;
• B) controls the at least one display device to display a second portion of the graphical user interface based at least in part on second information comprising an electronic locate manifest of the locate and/or marking operation as performed at the work site by the field technician, wherein the electronic locate manifest comprises an electronic image of the work site and a digital representation of at least one locate marking overlaid on the electronic image of the work site;
• C) generates at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation based at least in part on a comparison of at least some of the first information and at least some of the second information;
• and
• D) controls the at least one memory to electronically store, and/or controls the at least one communication interface to electronically transmit the at least one indication of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment,
• wherein the first portion of the graphical user interface and the second portion of the graphical user interface are displayed simultaneously so as to facilitate the comparison of at least some of the first information and at least some of the second information.