Introduction ofM solution- Map for storied cities,
Map for smart cities -Code for History

What is M?
Technology to handle “the best spatial representation foruse cases” as “accurate geographic information”- Map for storied cities,
Map for smart cities -© Cogito Inc.,
Kasai tourism association© Toyohashi city
© Code for History
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Market 1: MaaS / Smart city

© Toyohashi city
© Wikimedia Commons

Opportunities:• Bus location system, Toyohashi-city( ADOPTED )• MaaS app in smart city ( LIKELY )• Railway management system ( LIKELY )Code for History

Market 2: Real estate registration

Opportunities:• Consultation request fromland and house inspector ( UNLIKELY )• Consultation request from some
prefectural officer ( UNLIKELY )NOTE: Japan’s official real estate registration
process is legally based on official inaccuratemap, so how to handle inaccuracy is always
problem.
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Market 3: Tourism / Sightseeing© Cogito Inc., Kasai tourism association

Opportunities:• Used by Machidukuri platform Inc.’s
Tourism app (adopted by 5 overmunicipalities ADOPTED )• Used by Cogito Inc.’s Tourism app(adopted by 40 over municipalities
ADOPTED )© Machidukuri platform Inc.,
Arakawa city

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Market 4: Education / Academic© OSAKA city, Higashinari-ward

Opportunities:• City walking site for cultural assets,
OSAKA Higashinari-ward ( ADOPTED )• Cultural assets introducing sites,
Gumma historical succession
association ( ADOPTED )• Some nature park use case ( LIKELY )© Code for History,
Gumma historical succession association
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Characteristics of M
• It can switch between inaccurate map-likerepresentation and accurate map coordinates oroverlay them in real time
• It can convert not only the center position
coordinate but also the direction and scale
exactly• It can convert the entire coordinate system withhomeomorphic one to one conversion (Japanpatent, JP-6684776)• Line elements such as roads can also beconverted by the function of converting lines withdifferent shapes into lines• Both libraries and data editors are open source
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Homeomorphic conversion(Japan patent, JP-6684776)• M does not shift the display position
when continuously switching maps
– Bidirectional one-to-one conversion (homeomorphicconversion)

Not moving the position

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Line-to-line conversion• Based on homeomorphic conversion,
M can guarantee converting
coordinates on the lines to on the otherlines – This is useful for schematic map© Toyohashi city

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Awards•

In 2018, M won the first and only triple crown (Grand Prize,
Educational Effectiveness Prize, and Visitor Prize) in the Geo Activity
Contest sponsored by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan,
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism© GeospatialInformationAuthority••In 2019, First round selection in the Innovation Award / Disruptive
Challenge category sponsored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications (Final selection declined)
In 2021, Encouragement Award in the Geo Activity Contest sponsoredby the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
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Competitor: Stroly• Venture company in Kyoto which spunoff from Advanced Telecommunications
Research Institute International in 2016
• They have raised over 500 million
JPY through 2018 and recently raised
additional Series C funding inFebruary 2022 (amount unknown)• They are using old maps and illustrated
maps to provide M-like solutions
to the tourism sector• https://stroly.com/© Stroly Inc.
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Comparison with StrolyFeatures

StrolyM

Ease of publishing✅
Can be published just after editing❌
Manual deployment of configuration files is required

Communication
function✅
Users can communicate on the map each other❌
Future planning✅

❌

Homeomorphic
conversion❌
Pseudo conversion✅
Japan Patent technology

Scale/direction
conversion❌
Bugs that cannot convert scale✅
Scale/direction are precisely converted

Convert Lines toLines❌

✅

❌
Toggle only, slow✅
Always overlay, briskly❌

✅
PWA support

Networkenvironment❌
Work only on internet✅
Can work on intranet/local

HTMLembedding❌
IFRAME embedding only✅
DIV embedding, can be controlled with API

Share function❌
Sharing map page only✅
Sharing viewpoint is also possible

Mobile support❌
Only Stroly Inc. can build mobile apps✅
iOS/Android libraries are provided❌
Cannot support GIS data✅
Can both edit and display GIS data❌

✅

Entertainmentfeature (Stamp-rally)

Map overlay
Off-line operationExisting GIS support
Open source

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Strengths compared to Stroly 1:
Same patent inventor
Stroly’s most important
patent: JP-5810411

Inventor: Kohei Otsuka(Right for application isowned by Stroly)••

M’s patent: JP-6684776

Inventor: Kohei Otsuka(Right for application isowned by inventor)

Both technology were spawn from same inventor, and the newest, mostadvanced implementation is M
All innovations in the world around this have been defined by one person
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Strengths compared to Stroly 2-1:
Homeomorphic conversion (patented)
Comparison of roundtrip coordinate conversion
Paris’ old map example:
M: redStroly: yellow
The accuracy is better as theshape returns to the grid shape
Conversion error
M: 0.000px(Less than rounding error)
Stroly: 11.094px•Homeomorphic conversion (and Line-to-line conversion) is premise ofMaaS / real estate use cases. Hence, Stroly can handle hobby-like use
cases (Education, tourism), but cannot handle mission-critical use
cases. M can handle them (This can be mathematically proved)
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Strengths compared to Stroly 2-2:Homeomorphic conversion(Easier to understand)
What is the difference with / without homeomorphic conversion?
For moving in reality:•••

Without homeomorphicconversion:

Continuous motion in reality may be
converted to non-continuous, messmotionAlthough it does not end always inabnormal conversions, it cannot beguaranteed normal conversions, andsince the abnormal conditions areundefinable, the only way to find theerror is to test in all coordinate
Even if an abnormal conversion isdetected, there is no way to define a
guideline for how to correct the data•••With homeomorphic
conversion:

Continuous motion in reality can beguaranteed to be converted tocontinuous motion in historical map
Even in the case of abnormal
conversion, the incorrect reason can bedetected, and it is clear what needs tobe corrected
Furthermore, with M, not only theconversion is continuous, but also lineto-line conversion is possible

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Strategy for business 1:
Cooperation with Stroly• Stroly is an inferior technology, however, they havealready raised a lot of money, have a certain degree ofname recognition, and are a little ahead of customersand contents• M keep high level compatibility to Stroly⇒ Once Stroly adopt M as their new engine and pay
license fee to M, it is win-win relationship of bothentities and existing Stroly customers can enjoy keenedge technologies
 We have been friendly proposed this idea to Stroly over 3 years• Obstacles for this idea: Stroly board members’ hostility
to M
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Strategy for business 2:
Launch a new business entity• Even if Stroly doesn't collaborate with M, it iseasy to beat them by raising money and launchinga competing business– M’s strength is protected by IP and inventor’s talents– Stroly have several strengths than M (like Easy-to-use web
editors, Map based communication tools, Stamp-rally gamecapabilities, etc.), but such strengths are all labor intensivefunctions and not protected by IP. Hence, once M raise money,
it is easily catching up soon
– Stroly have a little ahead of customers and contents, but they arequite few (Only 200 customers and 9000 contents even after 5 yearsof business – according to their press releases). So there are almost
no first-mover advantage, innovated technology can beat them
– Customers like Municipalities have several problems in several
markets (Tourism, Education, MaaS, Real estates) – M cancover all of such use cases, Stroly can’t
Code for HistoryMap for storied cities,
Map for smart cities• An attractive city is one where the stories that havebeen told (History) and the stories that are about to
be told (Dream) are woven together in an
appropriate way to create a coherent story• M can handle both past story (education /tourism) and future story (smart city) together• M will be the fundamental information
platform for smart cities, where the past and future
can be storied about in harmony
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EndGithub pages: https://code4history.dev/
Github repository of M:
https://github.com/code4history/Maplat/E-mail: kochizufan@code4history.dev

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