The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to build digital archives and GIS databases with published maps; and 2) to examine changes and the evolution of published maps for the cities of Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto in Japan between the Edo period and the Meiji period.
I first created digital image databases using collections of published maps from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and made the archive publicly available on the World Wide Web. Next, The historical maps were then assessed in greater detail to identify significant errors and inaccuracies. The maps drawn of Osaka and Edo during this era took land survey results into consideration, the maps for Kyoto followed the same layout as used since the 17th century. I used GIS spatial analysis functionality to perform an analysis of their accuracy, thereby assessing the extent to which cartographers were able, or allowed, to reflect details on paper sheets, clarifying city layouts.
