Research on the history of transport systems often involves the creation ofmaps to represent the conditions of a transport network at a given point
in time, or perhaps a series of maps showing the development of the transport
network. Traditionally, such maps have been prepared by manual cartographic
techniques. However, the development of geographic information systems
(GIS) over the past decades has now made it possible to generate such maps
by computer. Besides offering a more efficient method of preparing maps,
geographic information systems can be used as a repository of a variety of data
about transport history and as a powerful tool for analysing and visualising
historical patterns and geographic temporal relationships.
In principle, use of GIS to produce a history of a transport system would
appear to be quite straightforward. Fundamentally most transport systems
consist of linear links between places, so it should be possible to use basic
GIS features such as lines and points to represent the transport system.
However, there are inherent complexities in transport networks and their
histories that make development of such a GIS database more difficult. In
this article, I will introduce my project to develop a GIS-based history of
the rail network in the Kanto region of Japan, around Tokyo, as an example
of how GIS can be used to record the history of a complex transport
network.
The first railroad in Japan opened in 1872, four years after the Meiji restora-
tion of 1868. It connected Tokyo (at Shiodome, near modern Shinbashi) with
the new port of Yokohama to the south, along Tokyo Bay. The Tokyo area
and the surrounding Kanto region now have one of the world’s densest rail
networks, serving Tokyo metropolitan prefecture, the three adjacent prefec-
tures of Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba, as well as parts of Gunma, Tochigi,
Ibaraki, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka.
To record the history of this vast rail network, I obtained detailed source
materials, designed the necessary geographic and database structures in the
GIS, and recorded numerous aspects of the system’s historical development.
My goal was to be comprehensive in space, theme, and time in order to iden-
tify as many different types of historical conditions as possible and ensure
that the GIS would be able to handle them.
T
he
Jo
ur
na
l o
f T
ra
ns
po
rt
H
is
to
ry
25
/1
84
Using GIS to map rail network history
Loren Siebert University of Akron, Ohio
SURVEYS AND SPECULATIONS
Chap 5 22/4/04 9:00 am Page 84

In this article, I describe the technical issues involved so that other
researchers who want to document the rail history of another region in a GIS
will be able to assess what they need and how they can use a GIS to do it.
Most of the examples I give are meant to illustrate the nature of the data, the
way they are recorded in the GIS, and how they can be mapped, rather than
specifically to describe or analyse the history of the Greater Tokyo rail
system. Separate articles dealing with historical mapping and interpretation
of the Kanto region’s rail network with this GIS historical spatial database
have been published or are in preparation.1
This GIS-based rail history is part of a larger project2 to produce a GIS
spatial history of Tokyo and its surroundings during the modern era. The
project currently includes shoreline changes in Tokyo Bay; changes in rivers
and canals; administrative boundary changes and consolidations from vil-
lage, to town, to city, to city ward; and population changes. It also includes
continuing work on characterising land cover changes.
Tokyo has one of the world’s densest rail networks, and thus is both an
ideal location for producing a GIS rail history and a very difficult one, owing
to the complexity of the system and the vast amounts of information avail-
able. By choosing this extensive system, I have been able to discover histori-
cal situations requiring development of special recording methods in the GIS.
It would now be quite easy to apply and adapt the methods I have developed
for mapping the history of another urban region’s rail network. I will soon
begin expanding my project to include all of Japan.
Besides its rail network, Tokyo also had an extensive streetcar system, as
did Yokohama and some other cities in the Kanto region. In general, street-
car networks are even more complex than rail networks, because individual
streetcars can be routed in many ways from point to point, and streetcar
stations can be more easily and more often relocated. Also, obtaining detailed
maps showing the many changes in the streetcar network is a more chal-
lenging task than finding sources for the rail network. Therefore, I decided
to treat input of the Kanto area’s streetcar systems as a completely separate
project for the future. Adding such information would be essential, however,
for portraying the full picture of transport possibilities in Tokyo, because
streetcars served as the initial links between the peripheral commuter line
stations before commuter lines and subways were extended into and through
the urban core.
Information sources for rail network history
A significant amount of information exists on the development of railroads
in Japan. Most rail companies have sought to provide information to the
public about the history of their company, lines, and stations. In addition,
various publishers have responded to, and helped foster, a high level of
interest in railroads, trains, and related historical facts. This is not at all
surprising in a country where railroads play such a vital role in the lives of
most people. In many senses, therefore, this project has been data-rich.
U
sing G
IS to m
ap rail netw
ork history
85
Chap 5 22/4/04 9:00 am Page 85