Patent ID: 8270666

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating generation of a searchable electronic record of a locate operation performed by a locate technician, the locate operation comprising identifying, using at least one physical locate mark, 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 display device; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to the communication interface, the display device, and the memory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processing unit: controls the communication interface to electronically receive source data representing at least one input image of a geographic area comprising the dig area, the at least one input image including at least one dig area indicator to provide at least one indication of the dig area in the displayed at least one input image; processes the source data and controls the display device so as to display at least a portion of the at least one input image including the at least one dig area indicator on the display device; adds to the displayed at least one input image at least one locate mark indicator to provide a digital representation of the at least one physical locate mark applied by the locate technician during the locate operation, thereby generating a marked-up image including the at least one dig area indicator and the at least one locate mark indicator; and further controls the communication interface and/or the memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store information relating to the marked-up image so as to generate the searchable electronic record of the locate operation.