TradeNet

Context

With the financial support of two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from USDA/NIFA, my team and I built a 3D visualization desktop application using the video game engine Unity3D on top of the detailed trade import and export database from FAOSTAT. The application shows, in a visually appealing layout, the import and export trade relationships between countries.

Data

Import and export data from 1986 to 2017 for over 100 different commodities from the FAOSTAT Detailed Trade Matrix. In addition, on a weekly basis, the application processed and incorporated trade policies from Global Trade Alert.

Tech Notes

The 3D elements in the application were designed using 3DS Max, Unity3D, and Blender.
We ported the econometric gravity model of trade into the application to give users a better understanding of current bilateral trade flows, based on the data in the application, and whether these trade flows were above or below what the model predicted.
The application was developed in Unity3D using C#, R, and Python (for data manipulation and cleaning).

Live Demo

TradeNet