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Internet-Based Geographical Information Systems Systemfor E-Commerce Application in Construction

Material ProcurementHeng Li1; C. W. Kong2; Y. C. Pang3; W. Z. Shi4; and Ling Yu5

Abstract: This study combines two luminous areas, geographical information systems~GIS! and E-commerce system, and applies thcombined technology in the business of construction material trading. In the era of electronic business, trades can be accomwithout limitations on time and space. The statement is true in principle only, but in reality, any kind of business activity must intransportation of goods from one place to another, and therefore, constrain in space is always in existence. GIS is capable to intemanage, and to analyze information regarding to space~spatial information!. This study investigates the roles of internet-based GISE-commence systems. It is identified that there is a great potential to use GIS in E-commerce system to provide better serlocation-based queries, business area analysis, and transportation analysis. Accordingly, an E-commerce system for the buconstruction material is developed. The implemented system is called construction materials exchange, this is currently operatingover 2,000 buyers, 29,000 suppliers, and 1,000 agents, and the system mainly servers for the great China region. This paper presystem from its conceptual business model, logical system design, to the system implementation.

DOI: 10.1061/~ASCE!0733-9364~2003!129:6~689!

CE Database subject headings: Geographic information systems; Internet; Construction materials.

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This paper reports the development of an internet-basedgraphical information system~GIS!—for E-commerce applica-tion, the paper covers the background knowledge of GIS, contual design of the E-commerce system, and the current statuimplemented system.

Geographical information system~GIS! is a unique informa-tion system, which maintains, manages, integrates, and anallocation-related~or spatial! information of different types andscales. Successful implementations of GIS are found in mareas, such as civil engineering, transportation, facilities manment, urban planning, and business analysis. On the other hE-commerce system offers a possible solution for directly tradbetween buyers and suppliers with no restriction on space

1Professor, Dept. of Building and Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytenic Univ., Hong Kong.

2Research Assistant, Dept. of Building and Real Estate, Hong KPolytechnic Univ., Hong Kong.

3Researcher, Dept. of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, HKong Polytechnic Univ., Hong Kong.

4Associate Professor, Dept. of Land Surveying and Geo-InformaHong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Hong Kong.

5PhD Candidate, Dept. of Building and Real Estate, Hong KoPolytechnic Univ., Hong Kong.

Note. Discussion open until May 1, 2004. Separate discussions mbe submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date bymonth, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing EdiThe manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and posspublication on March 6, 2002; approved on August 23, 2002. This pais part of theJournal of Construction Engineering and Management,Vol. 129, No. 6, December 1, 2003. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9364/2003689–697/$18.00.

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time. However, online transaction should not only focus on tflow of business-related information but also on the effective dtribution of goods~Yang et al. 2000!. Transportation of goodsamong different parties must involve all kinds of business actities, even in the era of on-line business. Consequently, costransportation is also a critical consideration in E-commerMoreover, both regional and local demographic characteristicsimportant considerations in the successful implementation ofE-commerce system. In this sense, location related, or spatiaformation plays an essential role in all kinds of business activitiincluding an E-commerce system. GIS is potentially applicablean E-commerce system to manage spatial information, and pvides an ideal solution to manage costs of transportation and mket analysis in the overall E-commercial activities.

This paper presents a development of web-based GIS forE-commerce system. The system is being used for construcmaterial procurement. The paper identifies the benefits of adoing GIS into the internet-based business activities. We presenan approach to integrated geographical information and convtional business-related information in a unique system. Finathe design and implementation of an internet-GIS E-commesystem for construction material procurement for trading costruction materials in China is presented and discussed.

The following section outlines the principles of geographicinformation system and E-commerce. Section II discussesroles of GIS in E-commerce applications. The section III presea conceptual design of an internet-GIS-based E-commerce apcation. Section V covers the business environment and functiodesign of the system. The section V describes the current statuan implemented E-commerce system: construction materialschange~COME!. Concluding remarks for the GIS technologieand the implemented system are given in the last section.

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Geographical Information Systemand E-Commerce Applications

Geographical Information System

Geographical information systems~GIS! usually refer to an infor-mation system which facilitates input, query, analyze, output, avisualization of georeferred spatial information. GIS differs froother information systems with its abilities to handle spatialformation from scales and any sources. For examples, locationsuppliers and construction sites, railway network and administive regions obtaining from local maps, and regional distributiof land uses obtaining from satellite images. GIS can be undstood though its roles in data management and integration,analysis and data visualization.

Spatial Data Management and IntegrationFig. 1 demonstrates a well-known layer-based architecture, whis commonly employed in traditional GIS. Each layer in the Gdenotes a single theme~or fact! in a particular area. Althoughthese layers seem to be separated, they are connected viacommon representation framework—a coordinate system.though GIS closely links to database management systems aseral information systems, GIS differs from other information sytems with its own data indexing system. Queries in geneinformation system bases on values of stored data, for examretrieve all suppliers with their annual revenues greater thanmillion. In order to optimize performance of the query, datausually managed according to their numerical/alphabetical orGIS, on the other hand, queries base on the locations of thetures, for example, retrieve all suppliers located within 10 kfrom a city. Data in GIS is managed according to their locatioin space, that is, adjacent features in space are stored inlocations in physical storage devices. This approach of data magement is unique in GIS and facilitates many types of spaqueries and analyses that are practically impossible in other inmation systems. Moreover, with this architecture, informatiabout one particular location or area can be easily managedintegrated, even though they are obtained from different discipary, different data types, and different scales.

Spatial Data Query and AnalysisWith the architecture mentioned above, GIS is a unique tool frwhich users are able to ask questions concerning with locatand relationships among locations. Depending on the natureapplications, questions to be answered by GIS ranges from simdata query includes one data set, data query includes multiplesets based on their spatial relationships, to complex spatial ansis. GIS is usually supplied with built-in functions to perform

Fig. 1. Architecture of GIS

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queries relating to locations, to examine spatial relationshipspatterns among multiple spatial data sets, and to combine wexternal databases and software. Once these functions are putright places and right applications, GIS not only save time anmoney in many labor-intensive tasks~e.g., corelates thousands ofpaper maps on a light box!, but also is a significance tool insupporting decision-making over the space.

Network AnalysisNetwork can be effectively represented in the location-based achitecture of GIS. A network is usually defined as a set of connected linear segments. Lines that compose the network are aand the intersections that connect arcs are nodes. Network issential to represent many natural and cultural phenomena inreal world, e.g., stream network, street network, bus routes sytems, and highway systems. A commonly asked question abothe network is that what is the optimal way to transport resourcfrom one location to another location in the network. GIS can bused to assist the decision making process over the netwoAmong the different kinds of network analyses, finding the shorest path is the almost fundamental and significant one. Thisbecause solutions of the shortest path analyses are usually appto higher-level or complex analysis.

Dijkstra’s algorithm is the most well-known approach to calculate the shortest path between two points in the network~Dijk-stra 1959!. The algorithm computes first, shortest paths from thgiven starting node to all other nodes in the network. For thnetwork shown in Fig. 2~a!, Node a is the starting node. Withdistances of the arcs, this is known that Nodes b and d are neato a and shortest paths from a to b and d are Arcs ab andrespectively. Meanwhile a tree shown in Fig. 2~b! is created, thetree is starting from a. Since Nodes b and d are the immedianeighbors of a, Arcs ad and ab are added as first level leafs oftree. The search is now performed for Nodes b and d. At NodeNodes a, b, and e are the immediate neighbors of Node d, andNode b, Nodes d, e, and c are the immediate neighbors of NodeArcs ab will not be added to the tree, since the arc has berecorded already. Consequently, Arcs de and db are added as lof ad. For leafs of Arcs ab, bd will not be added since this haalready been a leaf of Arc ad. If Arc be is added, there are twpossible paths from e to a, those are e-b-a and e-d-a. Thisknown that the path is shorter when this passes through Nodeso be will not be added as a leaf of ab. Eventally, only bcadded. Now, Nodes e and c have undergone similar search meods, Arcs ec and ef are added. Arc ce is duplicated. Arc cf givanother path f-c-b-a, which is longer than the path f-e-d-a antherefore, cf is not added. Eventally, the tree shown in Fig. 2~b! iscompleted.

From Fig. 2~b!, shortest paths form Node a to all other nodein the network can be traced. For from Node a to Node f, fo

Fig. 2. ~a! A simple network and~b! tree structure of shortest path

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Fig. 3. Visualizing data using GIS

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example, at the bottom of the tree, this is known that the immdiate neighbor of f is e, and the neighbor of e is d, andneighbor of d is a, therefore, the shortest path from Node aNode f is a-d-e-f.

Here are some examples of the questions concerning netwanalysis:• Where are the suppliers of Cementwithin Guangdong region?• Where are the suppliers of Doornear to my construction site?• What is the best and the shortest route and transporta

method from Supplier A to Buyer B and what is the costtransportation?

Spatial Data VisualizationAnother important use of GIS is to present data in form of maautomatically. It is known that about 80% of all data are relatedlocations, hence most data can be analyzed and viewed spa^www.gis.com&. Actually in many cases, map-based presentatof these data is much more informative than other formatspresentation, such as table or charts. For example, map-bpresentation is more appropriate for census information~Fig. 3!.GIS usually provides various cartographic functions, such astomatic symbolization based on values of data, automaticplacement, contouring, or surface fitting. Some advance Geven provide three-dimensional mapping ability for multipdimensional data.

Apart from mapping a single status of feature at space, Gcan map changes in space as well^www.gis.com&. Representationof changes in space is valuable in predicting future conditionsin deciding further actions. GIS maps change by showing whand how feature moves/changes over a period of time. Anoapproach is to map the statuses before and after an action into examine the impact of the action.

E-Commerce Applications

E-commerce refers to business activities involving consummanufacturers, service providers, and intermediaries using cputer network. Electronic data interchange~EDI! has been used toforge automated linkages between the buyers and suppliertransmit orders, receipts, and payments electronically. Stuhave shown that using EDI for linking with so-called ‘‘channpartners’’ can help reduce processing, cycle-time, improve acracy, and create strategic value~Mukhopadhyay 1998!. However,EDI requires the support of private lines or value-adding nworks and relies on software that can incorporate varyingmats, which limits its coverage. Moreover, EDI requires signcant investment to facilitate trading among business partn

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especially when contractors have to deal with a large number osuppliers, which are invariably different for each project. Thecosts associated with EDI can be further exacerbated whesources of construction materials are geographically remote.

Web technology can be used to overcome the system incompatibility problem of EDI by encapsulating enterprise systems aobject components, made accessible by standardized interfacand standardized protocol for transmitting documents betweethese components through the internet~Gek 2000!. The internetprovides a transparent means of communication between the buers and suppliers. Users only need to know the address of thother party. Even though the internet is a complicated network oswitches, communication lines, software, and equipment, it is ono concern to users. The key to this simplicity is the separation othe various user organizations into islands with their own Internenetworks connected to the islands by a common protocol~An-dreoli et al. 1997!. The standardization of network communica-tion technology has significantly reduced the cost for installing aweb site and the unit cost for information transmission also becomes virtually negligible. Web technology thus enables contractors and suppliers to trade construction materials online easiwith low transaction cost and to eliminate errors existing in thepaper-based document system.

E-commerce as a proliferated business practice has at leafour types on the Internet: off-line order off-line delivery; on-lineorder off-line delivery; on-line order on-line delivery and off-lineorder on-line delivery~Liang and Huang 2000!. For the off-lineorder, off-line delivery type, information is available from theinternet, but both ordering and delivery are executed off-line. Thon-line order, off-line delivery type of E-commerce system pro-vides on-line information for products and also allows users tomake orders on-line. Once ordered, the product will be delivereoff-line. In an on-line order, on-line delivery E-commerce systeminformation for the products is provided on-line, and users caorder the products in the system. Once ordered, the productsservices will be delivered to the customer on-line. The off-lineorder, on-line delivery type of E-commerce requires customers tmake orders in the traditional way, but the products or servicesdelivered through the Internet.

Among these four types of business practice, off-line orderoff-line delivery and the on-line order off-line delivery types areapplicable in developing E-commerce systems for constructiomaterial exchanges. However, as the off-line order off-line delivery type only makes available information related to material ansuppliers on the internet, both ordering and delivery are executeoff-line. This type of E-commerce cannot overcome all the prob

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lems that exist in the traditional material procurement processwould appear however that the on-line order off-line delivetype, however, is more useful, as this type of E-commerce sysmakes both product information and ordering through the interavailable. Once the user completes the ordering, the ordered pucts will be delivered off-line to the user. The on-line order ofline delivery type is selected as the basis for developing oE-commerce system for supporting construction material procument process, as this type can improve the efficiency of informtion transfer during the ordering procedure in which all partican communicate and share information via the Internet.

Roles of Geographical Information (GI)and Geographical Information Service (GIService)in the E-commerce

Conceptually, the electronic trading process itself is not boundby the geographical locations of both buyers and suppliers. Tsystem should open for any buyers and supplier in the consttion industry all over the world. However, in the industry, buyeconsider cost of transportation as one of the deterministic facin choosing their suppliers. A large percentage of the overallpenditure of the perchance is spent on the cost of transportatIn this sense, geographical location is the only data that proviinformation about transportation cost. Most importantly, in thplatform of electronic market, buyers have relatively less knowedge about suppliers than in the conventional trading proceApart from the descriptive information of suppliers provided bthe system, geographical locations of the suppliers give the bers some implicit information of the suppliers and qualitiestheir material. From the suppliers’ point of view, the internet ofers opportunity to invest anywhere in the world. However, befoan investment is made, economic characteristics of a particregion, for example, the rate of establishing new apartments, mbe carefully considered. Geographical information is a valuaand, many times the only source to compare and to analyze bness environments of different regions. Web-based GIS offersfollowing geographic services in E-commerce applications.

Publishing Geographical Data on the WebThe most foundational use of web-based GIS in supportingelectronic market system is to provide geographical data assating with suppliers and material. The underlying idea of the eletronic market is to provide a platform from where buyers can fiservice from a large number of service providers. Since the bers are not necessary to contact the supplier in person inon-line ordering system, provision of detail, accurate, and up-date information of suppliers and material is the most importaconsideration. Geographic representation is usually the morepressive way to present a large volume of information, than chaor tables. Web-based GIS delivers geographical data of suppto all users of the system, for example, web-based GIS can pvide a directory of suppliers and visualizes their locations in foof maps.

Spatial Query and AnalysisWith the comprehensive geographical database of goods andpliers, general users without specific training can perform spaquery and analysis in the web-based GIS. The users can sefor example, the suppliers who provide the most competitiprice of material within five miles. Moreover, web-based GIallows a marketing specialist to see various trading patterns.specialist can analyze the area in which suppliers of a particu


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material are highly condensed. On the other hand, suppliersable to analyze the purchasing behavior of buyers all overworld and to compare the behavior against demographic informtion in different regions. All the results of analysis can be prsented in the form of maps and included in other documentsfurther references.

Transportation and LogisticAs mentioned above, no matter which types of business pracare adopted, the E-commerce system ultimately lead to direcindirect transportation of goods from suppliers to buyers. Athough the principle of online business is to provide a platfofrom which business activities can be performed without limittions on space and time, costs of physical transferring of gomust be considered. Web-based GIS not only maintains a cprehensive geographical database for transportation networksalso provides tools to analyze the most cost-efficient transpotion route to deliver goods from the suppliers to construction sof the buyer.

Development of Web-Based GeographicalInformation System for an E-CommerceSystem

Trading Situations

In most construction material trading circumstances, therethree major players:buyers, suppliers, andagents~brokers!. Buy-ers are customers who purchase certain materials and prodSuppliers are products and/or services providers. Agents aretermediaries who help the buyers and suppliers to complettransaction. The buyer and supplier must exist in any tradiwhile the agent exists only in certain trading situations. A goE-commerce system should support various trade situations.

An E-commerce system for assisting product procurement cates electronic links between suppliers, buyers, and agents~Sirini-vasan 1994; Wang and Seidmann 1995; Choudhury and Konsski 1998!. These links can be organized in different ways. Ashown in Fig. 4, buyers and suppliers can either form direct cnections without any intermediary~a!, with intermediaries~b!, oracquire the products through electronic markets~c! ~Strader andShaw 1997!. These three types of connections allow product iformation of suppliers and the request for product by buyers toaccessed through a network, which provides a platform for bing and selling of products electronically.

From Fig. 3, it can be seen that type~a! provides direct linkagebetween suppliers and buyers, which supports bargaining andding trading situations, but it is difficult to support other tradin

Fig. 4. Three types of buyer-supplier communication structure


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situations. Type~b! allows buyers to search and compare moproducts from the intermediary’s platform and facilitates tradisituations such as auctions and contracts-based trading, buintermediary becomes an unavoidable part of the supply chwhich makes it inconvenient to have direct communicationstween buyers and suppliers. Therefore, type~b! cannot supportbargaining and bidding trading situations. The electronic marin type ~c! provides platform for the suppliers to put their products information online. Buyers can easily search and compproducts of a pool of suppliers, and to contact suppliers direcIf necessary, buyers can also invite the agents to undertake cetasks required in order to complete a transaction. Thus, type~c!has the most flexibility and functionality to support all four traing situations encountered in construction material trading. TE-commerce business model presented in this paper is therebased on the type~c!.

System Design

To facilitate the four trading situations, the E-commerce systpresented has the following modules:GIS, E-catalogs, bidding,requisition quotation, andorder, as shown in Fig. 5. Each of themodule functions within the E-commerce system will now bdiscussed.

Geographical Information System ModuleThe GIS module is considered as the integrator of all informatin the electronic market. As long as a piece of informationrelated a location, it can be linked up to all other informationthe system though the geographic database. However, a kerequired to link up all sets of information. In the electronic maket, city is chosen as the common item of all sets of informat~Fig. 6!. Buyers, suppliers, material, and other information alinked to the layer of city through a unique identification for ea

Fig. 5. E-commerce system for construction material procureme


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city. In the other words, the GIS module can provide a singleinterface from which users can search all different types of dataand services belonging to a city. The module provides mappingservices for locations of buyers and supports, and other geographic information relating to the trading process, e.g., transportation, land use, and demography. The module provides as well atypes of spatial queries and analysis for entities used in othemodules in the system. For example, with the GIS module, buyercan browse how a particular type of product in the E-catalogdistributes over several cities of a region. On the other handsuppliers can use the GIS module to produce a map that showbids, requisitions, quotations, and orders made by buyers in different cities.

E-Catalog ModuleThe E-catalog module provides an interface for suppliers to advertise their product information into a classified material catalogThe product information includes the price, units, photos, brandnames, quality standard, and other relevant details so as to allothe buyers to make judgments on the suitability of the productsInformation of suppliers such as the company name, address, telphone, E-mail, and service details should also be provided. Thsearching function of the E-catalog allows buyers to specifysearching criteria such as a price range, categories, and keyworso that the desired materials and products can be found quicklAlso, retrieved results will be presented in a way that enablescomparisons to be made.

Bidding ModuleThe bidding module allows buyers to specify materials they wanto buy when they cannot find suitable materials from theE-catalog. Suppliers can view buyers’ requests for materials online and to bid for the request. Messages are sent to the buyeinstantly to inform them of the responses from suppliers. A buyercan accept a bid on-line and this will constitute an order from thebuyer to a supplier. The buyer and supplier can then use the ordmodule to follow up the order.

Requisition ModuleThe requisition module allows buyers to send requisitions to suppliers after suitable materials have been identified from theE-catalog. Although the unit price of each material is stated in thesystem, suppliers may give discounts to buyers according to th

Fig. 6. GIS as data integrator


Fig. 7. Business model of COME

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amount of purchases, payment methods, and their relationswith buyers. Supplier can view the requisition on-line and thuse the quotation module to reply to the buyer.

Quotation ModuleThe quotation module allows suppliers to send quotations to bers after receiving requisitions. Buyers will receive notice of tquotations and be able to view the quotation details on-line. Tcan then use the order module to raise orders.

Order ModuleThe order module allows buyers to send orders to suppliers.buyer can use the order module in three cases:~1! once suitablematerials are identified from the E-catalog the buyer wantsmake a direct order;~2! the buyer receives a quotation from thsupplier; and~3! the buyer accepts a bid from the supplier. Bothe buyer and the supplier can use the order module to prowith the transaction.

The above modules are the main modules of an E-commsystem developed to facilitate construction materials trading.E-commerce system has been implemented using an applicservice provider~ASP! as the web programming language aORACLE as the database for storing data and information oserver. The implementation of the E-commerce system isscribed in the following section.

Implementation of the E-Commerce System

The web address of the E-commerce system is^http://bsnt42.bre.polyu.edu.hk&. The E-commerce system is calleCOME, which is an acronymn for ‘‘construction materials echange.’’ The COME system adopts an on-line order off-linelivery model of operation. It is a trading model that is basedthe type ~c! of the buyer-supplier communication structure,illustrated in Fig. 3. The COME system has five main modulesindicated in Fig. 4, which enable buyers and suppliers to exethe four trading situations previously described. To cope wunexpected trading situations, the system also provides additiservices such as building up user profiles, tracking the tradprocess, and learning the trading experiences.

Business Model of COME

In designing and implementing the COME system, it is assumthat most suppliers would be from China, whereas buyers ca


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from anywhere in the world. The reasons for making such asumptions include that first over 90% of the construction mateals used in Hong Kong are from China and contractors in HoKong have expressed the need for an E-commerce system topedite the trading process. Second, most material producerssuppliers in China have no proper channel to contact buyers froutside of China. The E-commerce system to be developedtherefore intended to provide a platform for suppliers in Chinaadvertise their products so that trading activities with buyers froanywhere in the world can be conducted on-line.

In the current legal and business environment, exporting gooand products out of China involves preparing considerabamounts of paperwork required by various governmental bodibuyers who do not have sufficient knowledge of the statuary reglations and business culture in China will have difficulties fulfilling the paperwork. To solve this problem, the E-commerce sytem has not only the buyers and suppliers as two major ugroups, but also the agents who can be the brokers in negotiatiand auctions, and also carry out all other duties required bybuyers and the suppliers. These duties include the search of spliers’ information, the preparation of all paperwork required iexecuting the trading transaction, and shipping the products amaterials to the buyers. This is because the agents are famwith the business environment and regulations in China. Withothem, it is very difficult if not impossible to sort out all the paperwork involved in exporting commodities from China. On thother hand, without agents, buyers from outside of China will finthat it is very troublesome and expensive to conduct negotiatiowith suppliers in China. The agents can therefore be very helpto these buyers. The business model of COME is illustratedFig. 7. This figure summarizes the roles and functions of the thrmajor parties in the COME system: buyers, suppliers, and age

Implemented Functions

GIS is implemented to assist in the search of material informatiin specific geographic regions of China. The implementatioadopted the principle of server-side internet GIS~Hardie 1998! inwhich all complicated GIS operations are handled on the servside. In the sense, COME is a GIS application service provid~ASP! to its users as well. The client-side responses for ondisplaying maps sent from the server and requesting geograpservices through our provided map-based interface, for exampselection of a city on the map. The approach ensures a thin-cli


Fig. 8. GIS interfaces in COME system

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architecture in which additional software or plug-in are not requested in the Internet browser on the client side.

By using the GIS system, the buyers can define the searchareas by selecting the cities on the map@Figs. 8~a! and~b!# or byspecifying circular area with a given central point and its radiu@Fig. 8~c!#. The system will then find all suitable material infor-mation within the area together with the associated coststransporting the material and/or products from the suppliers to tbuyers@Fig. 8~d!#.

The E-catalog in the COME system contains over 2,000 cegories of construction materials classified into 17 trees withmaximum of four levels of information. With this structure, thesearch for product information commences at a general levelmore specific information is required, then the searching procewill lead to the next level of information. All suppliers and buyerare geographically associated to the GIS database via their locacities.

Functions provided for buyers also include sending requefor materials and accepting bids from suppliers, selecting ageto complete orders, and purchasing contact information of suppers. Readers should note that the buyers do not know whosupplier is when they find materials from the E-catalog. Buyehave to choose to purchase the contact information of suppliersthat they can contact the suppliers directly, or to select an agencomplete the order for them.

The suppliers can use the COME system for the followinpurposes: adding and maintaining materials and company infmation in the E-catalog, reviewing the current market situation


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terms of material prices and buyers’ requests, and biddingbuyers’ requests. Functions provided for the agents include maging buyers’ order, and bidding for buyers’ request. Some screcaptures of the COME system interfaces are shown in Fig. 9.

Current Status of Construction Materials Exchange

The GIS has been created successfully in the COME system. Ucan use the GIS function through the internet easily. The travtime of the data, which is needed to send to the client, on tinternet is reasonable. The reason is that most of the data neeto be transformed is just in text and image format. The averasize of an image file is just 60 K bytes. Moreover, since all thprocess is running on the server side, the performance is depdent upon the programming load and processing power onserver but not the client computer. Less than 1 s of processingtime is taken for every request sent by a user on our server.

Linking bidding, requisitions, quotation, and order to the GIdatabase is the next step of the development. Buyers and suppare geographically referenced to the GIS database, the cursystem supports spatial query and analysis for suppliers. Whenrelated information to the trading processes are linked to the Gdatabase, suppliers can use the database to manage those difftypes of information in a unique system. This is important for thsupplier to manage site offices and arrange transportation tolivery material effectively. Moreover, the suppliers can use thGIS module to analyze business areas and customer patterndifferent regions of China. The GIS module can offer valuab


Fig. 9. Interfaces of COME system for managing buyers’ order

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add-on services in COME to attract both supplier and buyers.Currently the professional version of the E-commerce syste

contains over 2,000 registered buyers, 29,000 registered suppland 1,000 agents registered in the COME system. Experimeare being conducted to compare the time and costs requiredprocure construction materials in the traditional way and throuthe E-commerce system. Users’ opinions about the effectivenof the COME system will also be collected and analyzed.

Conclusions

Development of an internet-based GIS for an E-commerce appcation is presented in this paper. In the era of electronic businemotivation for a buyer to procure over the internet largely depends on the completeness, accuracy, and availability of informtion about the product and the supplier. Apart from textual infomation, location-related information ~or geographicalinformation!, that is an important consideration in any kind otraditional trading activities, must be put into E-commerce appcation as well. GIS is a unique tool to manage and to analyhuge amount of geographical information. This paper mentionhow an internet-based GIS enhances functionality of a

696 / JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMEN

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E-commerce system for construction material. This paper alpresented a design and implementation of integrating geograpcal information and business related information~e.g., products’catalog, quotations, and orders!.

It is necessary to note that costs for transporting constructimaterials is not only dependent on the distance. Although tlonger the distance, the higher the costs, the transporting comay involve many other variables, such as the locations of locdistributors, reduced shipping costs because of combining shment to various buyers in the same area. In general, transportcost is a complex subject which deserves further investigationthe future. On the other hand, although the use of an intelligeagent in the E-commerce has been mentioned in the paper,current system does not facilitate the use of intelligent agenAgain, further study is needed to identify the role of intelligenagents in the COME system, and to design and implement suagents if they are deemed useful.

In summary, this study identified that the essential role ointernet-based GIS plays in electronic business of constructimaterial. The GIS provides a total solution for integrating anmanaging different types of textual information in the underlyindatabase; for suppliers to study the business environments of

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ferent areas; and for buyers to compare different suppliers anddetermine costs of transportation from different areas.

This paper also identified the limitations of the traditional construction material procurement method and identifies those arof E-commerce applications that may help to solve the problemModels of trading situations, as well as the typical types of communication structures used in E-commerce development are dcussed. A design and implementation of an E-commerce applition for construction material procurement is presented. TE-commerce system has been upgraded to a professional verswhich is now used by suppliers in China and buyers in HonKong.

There is a long history for human to use maps to make diffeent types of decisions, from daily route planning to national miltary strategy. Maps or the geographical information on the maactually have become indivisible part of our daily life. This papeaims to use an example and initiative of using GIS iE-commerce application of construction and architecture. Thisanticipated that GIS and systems with similar functionality will bmore widely adopted or even a must in future E-commerce appcations.

Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was jointly supported by a graawarded by the first writer, a grant from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University~Project No. 1.34.9709!, and a fund from theResearch Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR~Project No.3-ZB40!.


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