Some usage problems of GIS in Japan
Tsukasa Iwata Dr., Akihiro Teraki,Eiichi Itoigawa Dr.
Building Research Institute, Ministry of Construction
1 Tachihara Tsukuba-shi Ibaraki-ken 305 Japan
Abstract
January 17th, 1995, before dawn, the earthquake of magnitude 7,2 struck the
metropolis Kobe. Immediately after the disaster, the Building Research Institute has
started to set up the “Geographic Information System for the Restoration Planning in
the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu Earthquake Area”. This system is the first practical GIS
for restoration planning in Japan. It takes, however, about one year to set up because
of the present Japanese digital mapping technology such as the quality of digital
mapping data, the data generating and overlaying method and surveying method at
both urgent and ordinary times. On the other hand, many municipalities intend to use
GIS on usual works of the property tax, the resident registration, infrastructure
management, urban planning and emergency works in an urban disaster from our
recent questionnaires. One of the most critical problems using the GIS in municipal
works is the expensive cost to make the digital map. This paper introduces our system
and describes the possibility to reduce the cost up to the present Japanese digital
mapping situation to promote the GIS for all of the municipalities over 3,000 from our
experiences this time.
Japanese Municipal Organization
1. Addressing System
Fig. 1 Addressing system in Japan
2. Municipal Population and Size
table.1 The size of municipalities in Japan
3 Responsibility for Urban planning
Fig. 2. The level of the urban planning responsibility
Responsibility for map in Japan
1 The National Geographical Survev Institute. Ministrv of Construction. Japan
The national geographical survey institute has the responsibility to print the
topographical map scaled less than 1/25,000 for all over Japan and also to setup the
standard of the drawing contents, details and notation including the digital map for
every scaled map in Japan.
This institute also publishes the map scaled 1/1 0,000 with buildings collecting
the urban planning maps bellow printed bythe municipalities.
2 Map for Urban Planning
Every municipality with the urban planning area has the responsibility to make
the urban planning map scaled 1/2,500 on the standard of the national geographical
survey institute. They make the urban planning survey maps of building usage, height
and structure as base maps for the urban planning.
GIS for urban planning in japan
1 Popularization of GIS on Urban Planning
Several municipalities uses GIS for urban planning. Our institute put a
questionnaire survey into every municipality with the urban planning area in 1996,
The consequence of this survey is bellow.
Fig.3 The using rate of the GIS for the urban planning up to the municipal size
The large city like a designated city already use the GIS for the urban planning.
75’%0 of the designated city has the GIS. The smaller is the population of the
municipalities, the less is the rate of the municipalities using the GIS, because the
amount of budget is usually up to the population size in Japan and the digital mapping
cost is expensive. Only 38 (2.1 Yo) municipalities use GIS in 1857 bodies. The rate of
the municipalities making the digital map is the same tendency as the rate of GIS as
bellow
Fig.4 The using rate of the digital map up to the municipal size
