Patent ID: 8384742

Claim:
An apparatus for facilitating detection of a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities, the apparatus comprising: a communication interface; a display device; at least one user input device; a memory to store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unit coupled to the communication interface, the display device, the at least one user input 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 including a first dig area and at least one additional dig area, wherein the first dig area corresponds to a first stage of a staged excavation project and the at least one additional dig area corresponds to at least one subsequent stage of the staged excavation project; controls the display device to display at least a portion of the at least one input image; acquires at least one first user input from the at least one user input device; generates a first generation marked-up digital image including at least one first indicator overlaid on the at least one input image to provide at least one indication of the first dig area where the first stage of the staged excavation project is planned to be performed; acquires at least one second user input from the at least one user input device; generates a multi-generational marked-up digital image including at least one additional indicator overlaid on the first generation marked-up digital image including the at least one indication of the first dig area to provide at least one indication of the at least one additional dig area where the at least one subsequent stage of the staged excavation project is planned to be performed; adds a first indication to the first generation marked-up digital image and/or the multi-generational marked-up digital image that the first dig area corresponds to the first stage; adds a second indication to the multi-generational marked-up digital image that the at least one additional dig area corresponds to the at least one subsequent stage; and further controls the communication interface and/or the memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store information relating to the multi-generational marked-up digital image so as to facilitate the detection of the presence or the absence of the at least one underground facility within the plurality of dig areas.