Marking apparatus for receiving environmental information regarding underground facility marking operations, and associated methods and systems

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems for marking a presence or absence of an underground facility. Marking material is dispensed, via actuation of an actuation system of a marking device, onto a target surface. Environmental information regarding at least one environmental condition of an environment in which the marking device is located is received via at least one communication interface of the marking device, and marking information is logged into local memory of the marking device. In one aspect, the stored marking information includes at least some of the environmental information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for marking a presence or absence of an underground facility, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one actuator to control dispensing of a marking material for marking the presence or absence of the underground facility;   a memory to store processor-executable instructions;   at least one communication interface; and   at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one actuator, the memory, and the at least one communication interface, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructions, the processor:   controls the at least one communication interface to receive environmental information regarding at least one environmental condition of an environment in which the apparatus is located; and   stores at least some of the received environmental information in the memory.