NOTICE
The Federal Construction Council (FCC) is a continuing activity of the Building Research Board of the National Research Council (NRC). The purpose of the FCC is to promote continuing cooperation among the sponsoring federal agencies and between the agencies and other elements of the building community in order to advance building science and technology--particularly with regard to the design, construction, and operation of federal facilities. Currently, 18 agencies sponsor the FCC:
Department of the Air Force, Office of the Civil Engineer
Department of the Air Force, Air National Guard
Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers
Department of the Army, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
Department of Energy, Office of Project and Facilities Management
Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command
Department of State, Office of Foreign Buildings Operations
Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Construction Management
General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Facilities Engineering Office
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Endowment for the Arts, Design Arts Program
National Science Foundation, Structural Systems and Construction Processes Program
Smithsonian Institution, Office of Facilities Service
U.S. Information Agency, Voice of America
U.S. Public Health Service, Office of Management
U.S. Postal Service, Facilities.
As part of its activities, the FCC periodically publishes reports like this one that have been prepared by committees of government employees. Since these committees are not appointed by the NRC, they do not make recommendations, and their reports are not reviewed and approved in accordance with usual NRC procedures. Consequently, the reports are considered FCC publications rather than NRC publications.
For further information on the FCC program or FCC reports, please write to: Executive Secretary, Federal Construction Council, Building Research Board, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20418.
PREFACE
For many years a symbiotic relationship has existed between planners and computers. As the speed and data-storage capacity of computers have increased and new features and programs have been developed, planners usually have been among the first to make use of the added capabilities. This is because planning--by its nature--has an open-ended need for information; no matter how much data planners have and how many analyses they make, they can always use more. Consequently, planners--and particularly installations planners--frequently have been in the vanguard of those pushing the development of computer technology.
The computer industry has responded by producing a dazzling array of hardware and software for installation planners. New computer graphics systems and geographic information systems (GIS) are especially impressive. However, while the new systems are more user friendly and have far more capabilities per dollar than old systems, they are still neither cheap nor easy to learn to use. This has prompted many federal agencies to hesitate to invest in the new systems. Agencies have questioned, for example, whether they really need the added capabilities of the new systems, whether in these times of tight budgets the investment in new planning tools can be justified, and whether it might be wise to delay making a purchase until the next generation of systems comes out.
A Federal Construction Council (FCC) symposium was held in March 1993 at the National Academy of Sciences, to help federal agencies decide whether they should invest in modern computer systems to assist in their installations planning activities and, if so, what type of system to purchase. The symposium was organized jointly by two Federal Construction Council committees (the FCC Consulting Committee on Comprehensive Planning and the FCC Task Group on The Use of Computer Graphics in Planning).
This report comprises summaries of papers presented at the symposium. The summaries were prepared by the speakers, and the opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the FCC. However, the papers are believed to be relevant and timely and to contain information that will be useful to the sponsoring federal agencies.
FEDERAL CONSTRUCTION COUNCIL
CONSULTING COMMITEE ON COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING
Chairman
Juanita Mildenberg,
Facilities Engineering Branch, National Institutes of Health
Members
Ed Bakunas,
Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, Department of the Air Force
Anthony Costa,
Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration
John Deponai,
U.S. Army, Construction Engineering Research Laboratories
Ray Detig,
Readiness Center, Air National Guard
Tariq Farooqi,
Refurbishments Division, Voice of America
Edward Feiner,
Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration
Thomas Grooms,
Federal Design Improvement Program, National Endowment for the Arts
Kenneth R. Harper,
Office of Engineering Service, Public Health Service
Joseph Hassenfeldt,
Facilities Management Division, Department of Energy
William Hoffman,
Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Public Health Service
Emil Kish,
Office of Foreign Buildings, Department of State
William G. Miner,
Office of Foreign Buildings, Department of State
James McCord,
Facility Development Planning Office, Department of Veterans Affairs
Don Pledger,
Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Department of the Navy
Richard Schneider,
U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories
Gordon Velasco,
Architecture and Planning Branch,U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
Edward Wandelt,
Facilities Program Support Division, U.S. Postal Service
Robert C. Wilson,
Facilities Branch, Voice of America
George Williams,
Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health
Jerry Zekert,
U.S. Army Engineering and Housing Support Center, Department of the Army
FEDERAL CONSTRUCTION COUNCIL
TASK GROUP ON THE USE OF COMPUTER GRAPHICS IN PLANNING
Chairman
James Carberry,
Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Department of the Navy
Members
William Aley,
Facility Systems Division, US. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratories
Philip Clark,
Office of the Civil Engineer, Department of the Air Force
Steve Coppedge,
Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Department of the Navy
Fred Drummond,
Office of Project and Facilities Management, Department of Energy
Paul Fardig,
Engineering Support Services Branch, U.S. Public Health Service
Stewart Grayson,
U.S. Army Engineering and Housing Support Center, Department of the Army
Emil Kish,
Office of Foreign Buildings Operations, Department of State
Al Lew,
Facilities Engineering Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Kent Reed,
Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Staff
Henry A. Borger, Executive Secretary,
Federal Construction Council
Lena B. Grayson, Senior Secretary