No_7_July_1969 — Page 37

Part I

Use of computers on

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public works in Hong Kong

ENGINEERS throughout the world have been quick to recognise the ad- vantages of speed and accuracy offered by electronic computers. By their use the time and costs of extensive data processing is substantially reduced and the field of calculations is increased far beyond that which could be con- templated by manual computation.

Computers permit the ready up- dating of information and, because of their speed, can be used for simulat- ing many alternative possibilities to achieve an optimum.

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In Hong Kong, the use of com- puters by private and Government engineers and surveyors is now well established. The Public Works Depart- ment has, to a limited extent, made use of electronic computers for a num- ber of years, and in recent months the scope of computer applications has been considerably increased with the installation of the new Government electronic computer and the purchase of electronic desk-top computers.

Consultants employed by Govern-

by A.T. Armstrong-Wright

Chief Engineer, Road and Drainage Div., H.K.

ment, too, have made wide use of computers, particularly for various water and transportation studies, and for flyover design. In most instances they have utilized the computer facili- ties available to their head offices in England and elsewhere.

Computer types

The main Government computer is an ICL 1902 with four magnetic tape units and a core memory of about 16,000 words. This specification is shortly to be enhanced by additional storage of 16,000 words, and three exchangeable disc stores of 8 million characters each. The computer is op- erated and controlled by the Organi- sational Surveys Unit and is used by several Government departments.

Several Olivetti Programma 101 computers are also owned by the PWD. These desk-top units are of course very much smaller than full size com- puters. They have nonetheless been put to good use on the storage of simple instructions and data and they

provide a useful step towards wider understanding and application of the larger and more sophisticated electronic computers.

The consultants employed by the PWD use a number of computer facili- ties for processing data for projects in Hong Kong. One firm, with its head office in London, makes use of a Univac 1107 computer in Birmingham by means of a Univac 1004 card pro- cessor used as a remote terminal in London. The machines are directly connected by a telephone cable. The Univac 1107 computer has nine mag- netic tape units, a core memory of about 65,000 words and a drum storage of 800,000 words.

For the full size computers, the processing is usually carried out by

1. Junior survey or operating an electronic

desk computer

2. Author (left) and programmer John Tse discuss the computer output of the critical path programme for Waterfront Road and flyovers

Far East BUILDER, July 1969

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