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

摘要

A marking device for a marking operation to mark a presence or an absence of one or more underground facilities is configured to access and display facilities map information, and/or other image information, as a visual aid to facilitate the marking operation. In various aspects, methods and apparatus relate to: selection of a “base” facilities map, or information from a database of facilities map data, relating to a given work site/dig area; selection of a pan and/or zoom (resolution) for displaying facilities map information; updating displayed facilities map information while a marking device is used during a marking operation (e.g. changing pan, zoom and/or orientation); overlaying on the displayed facilities map information marking information and/or landmark information relating to the marking operation; and storing locally on the marking device, and/or transmitting from the marking device, facilities map information and/or overlaid marking/landmark information (e.g., for further processing, analysis and/or subsequent display).

主权项

1. A marking apparatus to mark a presence or an absence of an underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the marking apparatus comprising:
a housing; a marking dispenser holder coupled to the housing to hold a replaceable marking material; an actuator that, when actuated, causes dispensing of the marking material; at least one sensor, coupled to the housing, to output geographic information indicative of a geographic location of the marking apparatus; a display device coupled to the housing; at least one memory; and at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the display device, the at least one sensor, and the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to:
obtain ticket information from a ticket associated with a marking operation for which the marking apparatus is used to mark the presence or the absence of the underground facility within the dig area, wherein at least the portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during the excavation activities, wherein the ticket information is indicative of a facility type of the underground facility;receive geographic information output by the at least one sensor and indicative of the geographic location of the marking apparatus;process the ticket information from the ticket and process the geographic information output by the at least one sensor to select 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 marking apparatus;display 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; andoverlay on the displayed digital image, an electronic representation of the marking material representing a location at which the marking material was dispensed.