Using TerraGo, Hitachi created the map atlas in just two days and then donated it to the Japanese Cabinet office, which leveraged the atlas to distribute maps on DVDs and USB drives to the respective prefectural and local governments. Assessors were then able to confirm the condition of affected areas by comparing the different map layers and utilizing geographical coordinates when adding information and images to each location.
Certification of property damage, which had previously required confirmation on site, could now be carried out much more quickly through the comparison of residential maps containing homeowners’ names and post-disaster satellite images.
By the end of May 2011, approximately 150,000 of the 180,000 applications for disaster victim certificates had been processed with GeoPDF maps playing a critical role. In the Fukushima nuclear evacuation zone, where on- the-ground inspections were not possible, 183 property owners received the Risai Shomeisho disaster victim certificates exclusively on the basis of the GeoPDF satellite imagery maps.