Circulation and Use of Maps - Participatory Mapping: New Data, New Cartography - page 113

people in their further understanding and
planning. [ sic ] Andreas Schneider, interview by
email, July 31, 2011

This also applies to the issue of the format in which
official data were issued, and on which the designer of this
map hoped to have an impact:

We did also hope that we could gain the
understanding of government agencies on a local
as well as national level to understand the
need/potential in providing proper information in
accessible format. Andreas Schneider, interview
by email, July 31, 2011

The pressure exerted for the quality of official data relates
not to their interpretation but to their format. The
publication of a map made by Web users highlights the
inability of public authorities to publish one or at least to
release data in a structured format.

As to the outcome of extracting both official and
alternative measurements, several of the people involved
have raised the issue. For instance, Professor Haruhiko
Okumura claims that his work - and that of his Website and
mailing list Radmonitor 311 - has had an impact on the
public authorities by encouraging them to issue structured
rather than unstructured data formats:

I made my points on my blog and otherwise
personally, and I think my collaborators and I
influenced people to finally have METI (Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry) announce that
the data be published in machine-readable forms:
www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/joho/oth
er/2011/0330.html. [ sic ] Haruhiko Okumura,

interview by email, August 24, 2011