Patent ID: 7834806

Claim:
A computer implemented method of collecting utility location information comprising: electronically defining a project including a project area, project criteria, rules applied to the project and data accessibility rights; electronically identifying a current location utilizing a first method; retrieving a GIS landbase template including map imagery and infrastructure, from a database; in substantially real time, integrating an imagery of the project area with the current location to generate an image representation of the project area; in substantially real time, displaying the image representation of the project area comprising the current location on a mobile device as a moving map; identifying an utility asset within the project area using the displayed moving map; obtaining the location of the identified utility asset in accordance with the displayed representation of the project area using a second method different from the first method; integrating the obtained location with the GIS landbase template including the map imagery and the infrastructure to create a precision grid including the location of the utility asset the map imagery and the infrastructure; storing the precision grid in a first database; and managing usage and distribution of the stored precision grid utilizing the defined project criteria, rules applied to the project and data accessibility rights.