Analyzing construction-related market trends in APEC countries using GIS

Abstract

GIS (Geographical Information System) is a means of representing data in digital form that has been used increasingly in various domains. GIS has the ability to capture,model, manipulate, retrieve, analyze and present geographically referenced data. In managing overseas building projects, research and analysis are especially crucial. It is necessary to collect enough information of the country that is related to the rule of law, government policies, and the performance of individual economic sectors, among other things. Although GIS has been shown to be a useful tool in various types of planning and management, it has not been used so far for international marketing research in the construction industry. This study therefore harnesses the potential of GIS software to present various statistical data relating to theconstruction industry in a 3Dformat so as to better improve the understanding of the data collected. The focus of this study is on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum's countries. The GIS analysis covers the variables of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), construction, manufacturing, agriculture and population to determine how various economic sectors are related to one another in APEC countries. Summaries of sizes of construction markets of APEC countries and theirgrowth trends were established figuratively using GIS screenshots in this study. This will assist construction firms in making decisions related to investments in APEC countries. Among other findings, this study shows that in terms of GDP and construction volume, Japan and the United States were the strongest among APEC countries throughout the 20-year period between 1985 and 2004. Brunei and Papua New Guinea have the lowest GDP and construction volume in the same period.