Specifications for interactive environmental management

In response to the need for comprehensive assessment of environmental quality, the development of a large-scale computer model called SEAS was initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 1972. Although SEAS has provided a framework for the collection, storage, and treatment of environmental data, it has increasingly become apparent that such large-scale models have several major limitations that preclude their usefulness as strategic environmental management tools. These major limitations are reviewed, key design specifications are offered, and a design process to ameliorate some of the limitations of using such models for environmental management are proposed.