Patent ID: 9473626
Filing Date: 2016-10-18
CPC Classification: E02D,E04B,F41H,G06F,G06Q,H04M

Claim Text:
1. In a computer comprising at least one hardware processor, at least one tangible storage medium, and at least one input/output (I/O) interface, a method for evaluating a quality of a locate operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site pursuant to an instruction to a field-service technician, the method comprising: A) receiving, via the at least one I/O interface, first information describing at least one act of the field-service technician relating to identifying the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility during performance by the field-service technician of the locate operation following issuance of the instruction to the field-service technician; B) electronically analyzing, via the at least one hardware processor, the first information received in A) describing the at least one act of the field-service technician; C) automatically generating via the at least one hardware processor, based on B), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate operation, the at least one indication of the quality assessment representing the quality of the locate operation performed by the field-service technician; and D) electronically storing on the at least one tangible storage medium, and/or electronically transmitting via the at least one I/O interface, the at least one indication generated in C) of the quality assessment of the locate operation so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment of the locate operation.