Patent ID: 8612271

Claim:
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 and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility at a work site, the method comprising: A) receiving, by the at least one hardware processor, first information relating to the locate and/or marking operation performed at the work site by at least one technician using at least one piece of locate equipment, wherein the first information comprises an electronic manifest of the locate and/or marking operation, the electronic manifest comprising: at least one image of the work site; at least one electronic marking on the at least one image of the work site, the at least one electronic marking indicating the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility and/or at least one environmental landmark at the work site; and first geographic information indicating a physical location at the work site corresponding to the at least one electronic marking on the at least one image of the work site; B) receiving, by the at least one hardware processor, second information relating to a presence or an absence of one or more reference environmental landmarks at or proximate to the work site; C) determining, by the at least one hardware processor, an expected type and/or an expected location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one environmental landmark at the work site based at least in part on the second information received in B); D) determining, by the at least one hardware processor and according to at least one predetermined criterion, a correspondence or discrepancy between the first information including the electronic manifest and the expected type and/or the expected location of the at least one underground facility and/or the at least one environmental landmark; E) automatically generating by the at least one hardware processor, based at least in part on D), at least one indication of a quality assessment of the locate and/or marking operation to identify the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility at the work site; and F) 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 of the quality assessment so as to provide an electronic record of the quality assessment.