Xu, X.; Cui, Y., and Jiang, Y., 2020. Development of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry: A forecasting study through online data. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 677–681. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

Online data are widely used today, and whether and how to use them in industry forecasting has become an important field of economic research. In economic analysis, two types of data can be applied: structured data and unstructured information. Government statistics are well structured, whereas Internet online information belongs to the nonstructured information category. This study uses government statistics and online data, applies the OxMetrics software packages, and forecasts the development of the marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. The research shows that the application of online data can help improve the forecast results, while making full use of both structured data and unstructured information. From the structured data and unstructured information of 2012–2018, development of the 2019 marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry is forecast.