Mapping of time-distances between principal cities in Japan.

Abstract

The mapping of time distance between 46 cities which are the prefectural capitals in Japan is attempted under the assumption that one travels between the cities by the Japanese National Railways only. And, hypothesizing that the potential structure of time distances between the cities may be expressed in a 2-dimensional time-space, Tobler's multilateration method for multidimensional scaling is applied. If the hypothesis mentioned above is accepted, the transportation system represented by the National Railways in Japan may be visualized on a 2-dimensional map and the possibility of visual consideration in the researches on transportation system is suggested. -from English summary multidimensional scaling transportation system cities