Patent ID: 8832565

Claim:
An apparatus for generating a digital virtual white line image to facilitate performance of a locate and marking operation by a field technician, the locate and marking operation comprising detecting and marking by the field technician, using at least one physical locate mark placed on ground, pavement or other surface, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area may be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the apparatus comprising: a communication interface; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: electronically receives, via the communication interface, at least one user input relating to the dig area, the at least one user input constituted by a user electronically sketching, on a base digital image of a geographic area that includes the dig area, an outline of a boundary of the dig area so as to provide at least one electronic dig area indicator that precisely delimits the dig area on the base digital image; based on the at least one user input, renders the digital virtual white line image including the at least one dig area indicator to precisely delimit the dig area on the base digital image and thereby provide at least one indication of the dig area with respect to the geographic area; and transmits a limited access file comprising information relating to the digital virtual white line image, via the communication interface, to the field technician and/or at least one party associated with dispatching the field technician to the dig area, so as to facilitate the field technician's performance of the locate and marking operation to detect and mark the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the dig area, wherein the processing unit transmits the limited access file with data identifying a ticket with which the digital virtual white line image is associated; wherein the limited access file is at least one of a password protected file, a proprietary file, and an encrypted file, and wherein the limited access file is configured so as to facilitate viewing of the digital virtual white line image only via a corresponding image file viewer.