Instead of researching a specific field, I decided to research an individual company.  My case study is based on Parsons Corporation.  I have a particular interest in Parsons and may try to obtain a job with them upon graduating, thus used this project as an opportunity to fully research the company.  Parsons mainly provides engineering, construction, and program management services.  The company is split into nine different fields:  Energy and Chemicals, Infrastructure, Technology, Government, Safety and Security, Industry, Planning, Environmental, and Transportation.  GIS is commonly used in Parsons’ Planning department in Urban and Regional Planning, Military Installation Planning, and Urban Planning and Design.  It is also commonly used in their Environmental department in Asset Management; as well as, many of their other fields.

        In the Environmental field GIS is used to investigate and map polluted areas or a specific pollutant either in the air, surface, or the water.  One specific project was the DOE-Fernald Environmental Management project. This project designed roads, leachate collection systems, waste transfer and water treatment for five uranium processing facilities.  A GIS was used for investigating subsurface chemical and radioactive contaminates which would prove to be very useful to these uranium processing facilities in monitoring these pollutants.
 

In Urban Planning and Design a project prepared for the city of Dubai included a complete structure plan and action area plans for this small city in Arabia.  A GIS was developed to guide future growth and change.  The plan included potential land changes, infrastructure growth and improvements, housing, environmental studies, economic diversification and resource allocation.  The land planners of Dubai should be able to use the GIS created to guide the development of the city with it’s increasing growth.

        Due to the current United States economic situation, Military Installation Planning is probably the

department utilizing GIS mostly at this time.  Many projects have been completed on military bases around theworld focusing on base improvements and development.  At Fort Riley in Kansas a GIS was created for better land management for existing and future needs and was developed for graphical and nongraphical files.  The base planners are able to use the developed GIS to compare the exisiting facilities with project facility needs.  They are also able to use it to look at current land use and facility resources and the areas needing improvement.  This is also similar to the GIS project created for the Kadena Air Base

in Okinawa, Japan.  This GIS was also used to look at and compare the current and future infrastructure, capital improvement, and installation planning needs. In both of these instances the GIS were put onto intranets to be

used and accessed by anyone involved in the process.  The Kadena project also used GIS data to develop and internet application of the general plan.  Parsons developed web pages of the plan so that anyone accessing the general plan web pages will be able to interact with live GIS data.      Parsons is an excellent example of a company utilizing GIS capabilities.  They have used it in the environmental field to track pollutants, the planning field to help plan for future growth and development, for the military to better

utilize current land use, as well as many other areas.  They are a prime example of a company enhancing their capabilities with the new technology now available.  This new technology is how Parsons Corporation is able to stay ahead of their competitors and gain most of the current military base planning contracts.
 
 
 
 
 

References

Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Markets & Services: Urban and Regional Planning.
        http://www.parsons.com/planning/regional/index.html.
Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Meeting 21st Century Challenges with 21st Century Solutions.
        http://www.parsons.com/about/index.html.
Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Military Installation Planning: Kadena Air Base Planning.
        http://www.parsons.com/planning/military/projects/proj03.html.
Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Military Installation Planning: Fort Riley Real Property Master Plan & GIS.
        http://www.parsons.com/planning/military/projects/proj01.html.
Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Parsons Homepage.  http://www.parsons.com.
Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Technology: DOE – Fernald Environmental Management.
        http://www.parsons.com/govt/tech/projects/proj01.html.
Parsons Corporation.  2002.  Urban Planning & Design: Dubai Urban Area Structure Plan.
        http://www.parsons.com/planning/regional/projects/proj02.html.