This is a tremendous opportunity for locate professionals to highlight their skills and accuracy in this unique one-of-a-kind competition. We encourage all locate personnel to sign up and participate. This is open to any employee who locates buried utilities. The winner of this event will be invited to participate in the national locate rodeo at the 2026 CGA Conference in Colorado Springs. 

UTTO created the Global Locate Masters for a couple of reasons. First, and most practically, traditional location competitions are notoriously difficult logistically. The locations must be carefully selected and are inflexible once chosen; competitors cannot watch one another perform the location without gaining an advantage, and gathering spectators is a challenge. Second, technicians deserve to be celebrated for the skill involved in this critical job. Naturally, the damage prevention industry focuses on damages (or the lack thereof). As a result, locate technicians are only recognized when something goes wrong. The Global Locate Masters aim to celebrate excellence and highlight the critical role they play, often receiving little to no recognition. A reliable, accurate locate is the culmination of a locate technician’s skill, years of experience, and diligence. The best of the best deserve every opportunity to showcase those skills on a stage for the rest of the industry to see.

About the Tech: UTTO’s Virtual Locate Simulator

The UTTO Virtual Locate Simulator creates complex locate experiences in an immersive environment that challenge a technician’s training, skill, knowledge, and attention to detail required for a successful locate. The locate device behaves as if it were detecting pipes and cables under actual electromagnetic signal conditions (both simple and complex).

The benefits of the Virtual Locate Simulator include:

·         Accelerate the training process while improving training quality

·         Compatible and functional with any chosen locate device

·         Simulate a variety of buried asset types, such as pipelines, cables, etc.

·         Train and locate in an immersive 3D environment without risking assets in the field

·         Get rid of the need to “shotgun” for months at a time with another technician

·         Multiple ‘real world’ electromagnetic scenarios stored

·         Trainer selects ‘locate scenarios’ from a variety of difficulties

·         Tricky interference signals for beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses

·         Evaluation and score of training performance

Don't forget to register to attend the 2025 Excavation Safety Expo on Wednesday, September 10, 2025.  2025 New York 811 Excavation Safety Expo