Map software for PSP released in Japan

News from Japan Chronicles

Today’s date has been mentioned around the web as the day when GPS-related firmware and other stuff would be released. Most of that probably originated by someone spotting ads about today’s software release: Minna no chizu (Everyone’s map). That software is indeed available from today, but there is no new firmware, and no mention of any GPS support yet. With that cleared out, let’s see what we’ve got.

Overview
For sale from April 20, Minna no Chizu contains maps of Japan, put together by map data provider Zenrin. For comparison, this is the data provider used by Google Maps for Japan, which lets us compare things easily later on.

It lists for 3,990 yen ($34) and at that price it’s a rather nice deal if you need a map for those trips around Japan. Once again, there is no GPS support, so if you get lost, you’re out of luck.

Ok, let’s pop the disc in and have a look. The first thing you’ll notice is that firmware version 2.60 is required, so if you don’t have it you’ll have to start by using the included update.

The maps
As mentioned before, all of Japan (including Okinawa etc) is included.
Maps can be viewed at zoom levels 0 to 7. At level 7, 1 cm on screen equals 3 km, at level 0 1 cm equals 25 m. Check next page for screenshots of these levels.

However, maximum detail is not available for all of the country, outside major metropolitan areas (such as my city of 300,000…) only goes to zoom level 3. At that level 1 cm on screen represents 100 m, and you will see most city streets. A bit of a letdown, but still useable.

For people outside Japan who might be interested in this, you’ll have to be aware of the fact that there is no text at all in the roman alphabet. All city names and neighborhood names are written in kanji, only railway station names are written in hiragana.

Controls
Once in map-viewing mode, the controls are fairly simple. Square zooms in, triangle zooms out. The L and R buttons are used to rotate the map, useful to make the map face the same way as walking.

Finding places
To find an address you’re looking for, the method is step based, you start from selecting prefecture, then city, then city ward and finally house number. A little tedious, but it works well.

The other option is to search by railway station name, which is really useful in a country like Japan where property value is largeley determined by how far the nearest railway station is.

You can also bookmark places on you own and jump directly to those.

Add-on packages
You will be able to purchase add-on data with more information on points of interest, restaurants etc. More on this later today in another update.

Screenshots Via Comments