Patent ID: 9116251
Filing Date: 2015-08-25
Classification: G01V

Abstract:
1. A method on a server for logging and recalling data gathered from a buried asset location procedure, the method comprising: receiving, via a communications network communicatively coupled with the server, a group of buried asset data points corresponding to a particular buried asset sought by an operator, wherein each of said buried asset data points includes geographical location data and a time and date stamp; storing, in an attached database, one or more records corresponding to the group of buried asset data points; receiving at a different time, via the communications network, a portable transmitter hookup definition associated with the group of buried asset data points, wherein the portable transmitter hookup definition includes a time and date stamp, geographical location data, and a buried asset type indicator, wherein the time and date stamp is different from the time and date stamps of the group of buried asset data points; searching the attached database for one or more matching records with buried asset data points having time and date stamps and geographical location data that match, within predefined parameters, the time and date stamp and the geographical location data of the portable transmitter hookup definition; storing, in the attached database, the portable transmitter hookup definition in association with the one or more matching records; creating a first data structure that represents a two dimensional area comprising a buffer zone around the geographical location data of the portable transmitter hookup definition, and storing, in the attached database, the first data structure in association with the one or more matching records; receiving from a mobile computing device, via the communications network, a request including current geographical location data of the mobile computing device and a buried asset type indicator; searching the attached database for a matching record with a buried asset type indicator and geographical location data that matches, within predefined parameters, the buried asset type indicator and current geographical location data received from the mobile computing device; and transmitting to the mobile computing device, via the communications network, the first data structure corresponding to the matching record.