Company: GfK GeoMarketing GmbH
Industry: Geographic Data
Location: , Germany

GfK GeoMarketing's Japan Map Edition includes a range of administrative, postcode and topographic maps. Regions and map elements are labeled with the international place-names and, in many cases, the native language place-names as well. All map layers and objects fit together seamlessly and provide gapless, overlap-free coverage.

The digitization of postcode areas and administrative units such as municipalities or Japan's prefectures requires significant expertise, reliable data sources and perfected quality-control standards. "GfK GeoMarketing's regularly updated and high-quality digital maps offer companies a solid basis for planning that does not currently have an equal on the market," says Klaus Dittmann, head of cartography at GfK GeoMarketing. "The demand for reliable information on dynamic, multi-faceted markets such as Japan is incredibly high. Our Japan Map Edition gives companies an ideal foundation for making more informed strategic decisions and carrying out detailed analyses."

Maps down to the most detailed level
The Japan Map Edition includes 18 thematically distinctive maps. Political boundaries are provided down to the most detailed regional level. The maps include a large amount of supplementary information, such as a classification of the country's cities according to number of inhabitants and map object labels in both the native language (and associated character font) and the international standard. This allows users to orient themselves amidst Japan's very diverse markets, administrative levels and regions.

,The new Japan Map Edition also reflects the comprehensive regional reforms of the nation's municipalities in recent years," explains Dittmann. "The end result of these reforms will be the reduction of the approximately 3,000 former regions to the new number of just over 1,000. As they occur, these changes will be reflected in our regular updates of the map edition. Japan is a good example of the importance of regularly updated maps when it comes to the accurate display and analysis of business data."

GfK quality ensures an up-to-date, ultra-precise cartographic basis The accuracy of GfK GeoMarketing's digital maps is very high, which is especially apparent with regard to the rendering of Japan's coastlines. "For some business branches, maps must not only be up-to-date, but also extremely accurate," explains project leader Klaus Dittmann. This is the case for the reinsurance industry, which uses GfK GeoMarketing's maps to assess the risk of natural disasters - in the case of Japan, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and typhoons.

GfK GeoMarketing's maps for Japan are vector-based, offering users unlimited zoom capability and editing possibilities as well as the ability to create their own custom-tailored map projects. All maps are available in the standard data formats - *.shp (ESRI), *.tab (MapInfo) and *.lay (RegioGraph - GfK GeoMarketing's own business mapping solution).

Applications
Digital maps serve as the foundation for the geographic analysis of data. They are used in specialized software applications to analyze regional markets and plan sales activities such as media campaigns and expansions into new areas. GfK GeoMarketing offers regularly updated digital maps illustrating postcodes and administrative regions such as municipalities for more than 240 countries worldwide - the largest collection on the market.

GfK GeoMarketing also provides data on potential such as the Europe-wide GfK Purchasing Power dataset as well as RegioGraph, their own geomarketing software solution. RegioGraph gives users the ability to import their own company and market data and then analyze and visualize this information on worldwide maps.

Additional information on the Japan Map Edition can be found at www.gfk-geomarketing.com/maps_japan.