Utilizing the Collected GIS data of the Philippines for a Research Project

From December 2nd to 8th, 2010, JICA-RI’s Research Fellow Suguru Miyazaki visited geographical-survey related governmental departments in Manila. This is to build the GIS database mainly on the target regions of the JICA-RI’s ongoing project in the Philippines as well as to gather data including topography, infrastructures, and industries of the country.

Having GIS as a convenient tool, researchers can manage, process, indicate, search, and analyze a variety of data collected through household expenditure surveys in local areas, in association with their location data. JICA has been engaged in a number of ODA projects there in the past, and, with GIS, will be able to comprehensively manage those projects by linking them together. Also it can verify project outcomes more accurately based on the locations of the beneficiaries in the area covered by the projects. Miyazaki says, “GIS enables us to run a simulation of traveling cost not based on two-dimensional distance on the map but on rolling landscapes with geographical features like mountains and rivers.” Research findings accumulated through GIS would provide useful referential information in making crucial decisions such as selecting the route of a new road for maximum poverty reduction impact.

Related Research Project: Infrastructure-building in Asia: Empirical Study of the Impact of Infrastructure Building on Filipino Farms: the Role of Space, Infrastructure and Human Capital and the Impact of the Financial Crisis