Sixth Long-term Plan for Basic Survey of Japan

The Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) is the body responsible for Japan’s survey administration, and it conducts the basic surveys. The activities, goals and scope of the basic survey were laid down in the Survey Act of 30th June 2004 which states, among other things, that surveys should be well planned and systematically integrated, for which long-term plans are to be devised. The Survey Act brought into existence the sixth long-term plan. The authors present the aims and objectives of the plan, and a view on the future of the society upon which the plan is based. Also given is a summary of planned activities.

The Long-Term Plan for Basic Survey of Japan, firstly developed in 1953, has since been readjusted and implemented every ten years according to the particular needs of the time. Four specific activities of the fifth Long-Term Plan, begun in 1994, have been successfully carried out: (1) establishment of Japanese Geodetic Datum 2000, (2) development of a network of GPS-based control stations, (3) development of GIS framework information and (4) dissemination of survey results via the internet. Continuous monitoring of the datum enables determination of horizontal and vertical crustal movement. A further result is that the general public become familiar with geo-data and maps; today car navigation and cellular phones with GPS are widespread in Japan. We envisage use of geo-information increasingly shifting from use by specialists to use by the general public.

Features of Plan
The Sixth Plan specifies activities, goals, and scope for the ten-year period 2004 to 2013; the plan will be re-examined and adjusted if necessary. Our mission today is to warrant that positional data and geo-information is available in various formats, at required accuracy, at any time to everybody. For this a nationwide infrastructure must be built to facilitate dissemination of the data throughout society. More specifically, three basic issues are given attention:

• wide availability of position data with high accuracy
  
• monitoring continuously crus-tal movements
  
• geo-information for disaster prevention.

The targeted goals are specified numerically, not financially. The formulation of goals has been supported by the report of the ‘future of survey’ roundtable forum, at which the future direction for GSI was discussed. Opinions from the general public were also collected using the GSI homepage.

View on the Future
The plan is based on a view of society ten years hence; it might have the following characteristics:

• citizens will find increasing satisfaction in recreational activities
  
• mobility will increase
  
• people want to live in a safe and secure environment, encompassing low traffic accident rate, low crime rate and low risk of becoming victim of earthquake and volcanic eruption
  
• need for prompt and efficient recovery and restoration after natural disaster
  
• an appreciation that the natural environment requires pre-servation and sometimes even restoration, which demands better understanding of the constraints influencing environmental change
  
• natural and historical conditions of each region will largely determine its further development
  
• new business opportunities will improve efficiency and vitality of industrial production
  
• effective land use will stimulate and revitalise urban development.

Planned Activities
Crustal movements of several centimetres per year are constantly observed in Japan. GSI therefore conducts geodetic surveys including continuous operation of GPS-based control stations, maintains the geodetic reference system, ensures stable acquisition of control points data, and provides accurate positional reference for various surveys, including public ones. GSI is to construct GRID-Japan (Geo-Referencing Infrastructure for Dynamic Japan) to address deterioration of the network caused by crustal movement. Converted coordinates to Japanese Geodetic Datum 2000 (JGD2000) at centimetre accuracy can be provided at any time. GSI will monitor crus-tal movements extensively and continuously; in areas of higher risk 3D crustal movement will be monitored at centimetre level in real time. Volcanic activity will also be monitored in real time. Crustal move-ment will be measured at centimetre level. A precise model of crustal structure and movement pattern will be developed for areas where large-scale earthquakes are anticipated; five years from the start of the plan a model should be presented for areas where an earthquake of greater than M8 could occur.
When significant volcanic activity is observed crustal movements should be monitored at short time intervals: five years from the start of the plan the time interval should be five minutes, and volcanic activity should be predicted on an hourly basis. With the help of GRID-Japan, GSI should also provide without delay control-point data necessary for post-crustal movement recovery and reconstruction work. Five years from the start of the plan, there must be public announcement of strategies and guidelines for the first ten days after a disaster, based on the scale of crustal movement observed.
Based on the geodetic reference system, GSI will contribute to the creation of new business opportunities that make use of positional information. GSI will develop and regularly update basic national geo-information and make it available nationwide as ‘Digital Japan’ fundamental information, promptly made accessible to everybody. GSI should ensure the up-to-date nature of this geo-information. It can do this based on the 1:25,000-scale topographical map covering the whole country, and that of the data based on the 1:2,500-scale urban planning map; five years from the start of the plan updating of major geo-information should being carried out at intervals of less than one month. Every five years, nation-wide imagery should be captured for all the plains and their surrounding areas. An on-line service system for geo-information, in parallel to map publication, will be developed and the dissemination of information promoted; five years from the start of the plan on-line services for major geo-information should have come into existence.