The Virginia Phase II Pilot project which involves the application of GPS receiver technology coupled to underground locating instruments has classes scheduled throughout the year. Please contact the Helpdesk for information. The class attendees come from a variety of companies including contract locate companies, private utilities, and municipality employees. The training class is about 5 to 6 hours in length with about 3 hours of actual field time using the instrument. The class is broken down into four (4) sections. The first section is learning about the Magellan CX GPS unit and the custom designed application. After this you learn about the new McLaughlin G2 Verifier locate unit with instruction by a McLaughlin instructor and then move onto coupling the GPS unit to the locate unit and do actual collection of GPS locate data in the field. The final part of the class involves learning how to correct the GPS data using Moble Mapper Office and then to send the data to VUPS using the “UpLoader” program which posts your “Positive Responses” and creates the actual electronic manifest.
Phase II of the Virginia Pilot involves the application of GPS technology with locating instruments. The locator, utilizing locating equipment integrated with GPS receivers, will locate the underground facilities capturing the lat/long coordinates of the underground utility. The data captured, including a positive response, will then be uploaded to a PC which will correct the GPS data to sub meter accuracy. The data will then be transmitted to the one-call software application for the creation of the electronic manifest and posting of the positive response. The data will be reviewed by the locator and upon acceptance of the data, the manifest will be stored on a Storage Array Network (SAN) located at VUPS. This data will be viewable by the excavator and the utilities that have been located on the ticket.
Call the VUPS Help Desk by dialing 811 and following the prompts for “other questions and information.”