Scope & limitations
This article is general education—not legal advice and not a substitute for project contracts, your engineer-of-record, or the locate rules that apply to your excavation. GPR results are interpretive and site-dependent; we document what the data reasonably supports under stated conditions.
Short answer: In Ohio, coordinating public utility locates through OHIO811 (often called “811” / OUPS) is the right starting point when notified operators have facilities in the dig area. It does not automatically give you a complete picture of every conductor or pipe you care about on a busy site—especially private laterals, yard lines, legacy runs, and slab-embedded utilities.
What OHIO811 is optimizing for
Public locate programs focus on notified member operators and the facilities they mark within their responsibility under the ticket. That is essential for safe excavation—and it is not the same as a full subsurface map of everything on your property or slab.
Where GPR locating commonly complements the ticket
- Private facilities — loops, laterals, and site-built lines that are not addressed the way you need for coring or trenching.
- Slab and pavement work — concrete scanning and utility imaging before saw cuts and core drills.
- Congested corridors — places where marks are dense, ambiguous, or difficult to tie to the actual work point.
What we do on site
For scoped engagements, we combine professional GPR utility locating with field markings and, when requested, PDF documentation. You will see limitations and targets discussed up front—because soil, moisture, and clutter change what can be defended in the data. For a companion question on whether GPR replaces an 811 ticket, see our GPR vs. Ohio 811 ticket guide.
Related services
Ready to scope GPR for your Ohio site?