A decision tool for the selection of imaging technologies to detect underground infrastructure

Damage to underground infrastructure during construction results in undesirable consequences to contractors, project owners and citizens. These consequences include construction delays, design changes, claims, property damages, service breakdowns, disruption of neighboring business and even injuries and lost lives. Subsurface utility mapping is becoming an essential process to reduce the probability of such damages before construction starts. However, a wide variety of geophysical imaging technologies and different application conditions pose challenges in selecting appropriate imaging technologies for the successful identification of underground utilities. This paper describes a decision tool that was developed to assist in selecting appropriate imaging technologies based on site conditions. The proposed decision tool, named IMAGTECH, utilizes the deterministic parallel selection technique (DPST) as a decision framework to evaluate the input values involved in the decision problem. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.