TechnicalGIS

Japan GIS data sources

Region
Eastern Asia
ISO 3166
JP · JPN
Sources
25
Themes
16
Last verified

Where to download GIS data for Japan: 25 sources across 16 themes, led by Geospatial Information Authority of Japan and Statistics Bureau of Japan. 11 offer vector downloads such as Shapefile, GeoPackage or GeoJSON, 4 cover elevation. 10 are under an open licence. Every link was last checked on 18 Oct 2026.

Country atlases

National and OpenStreetMap sources for Japan

Boundaries & admin 2

Administrative boundary data for every country

  • National Land Numerical Information (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

    MLIT's free national GIS layers: administrative areas, land use mesh, rivers, railways, hazard zones and more.

    • Boundaries & admin
    • Land cover
    • Transport
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    See publisher terms (mostly CC BY 4.0 compatible)
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoJSON
    Link
    nlftp.mlit.go.jp

    Verified

  • geoBoundaries administrative boundaries (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    William & Mary geoLab

    JSON API listing every available admin level with direct download links.

    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    Varies (open; see metadata)
    Formats
    GeoJSON, Shapefile, TopoJSON
    Link
    geoboundaries.org

    Verified

Elevation / DEM 4

Free DEM, LiDAR and elevation data for every country

  • Fundamental Geospatial Data download (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free with registration

    Geospatial Information Authority of Japan

    GSI Fundamental Geospatial Data including the 5 m and 10 m DEMs; free login required.

    • Elevation / DEM
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Transport
    Licence
    GSI content terms
    Formats
    GML
    Link
    service.gsi.go.jp

    Verified

  • GSI Maps (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Geospatial Information Authority of Japan

    Official web map of Japan with topographic maps, aerial photos, hazard layers and elevation tiles.

    • Elevation / DEM
    • Imagery
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    GSI content terms (CC BY 4.0 compatible)
    Formats
    XYZ tiles
    Link
    maps.gsi.go.jp

    Verified

  • GSI tiles list (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    Geospatial Information Authority of Japan

    Catalogue of GSI XYZ tile layers, including standard maps, seamless orthophotos and DEM elevation tiles.

    • Elevation / DEM
    • Imagery
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    GSI content terms (CC BY 4.0 compatible)
    Formats
    XYZ tiles, PNG, TXT
    Link
    maps.gsi.go.jp

    Verified

  • ALOS World 3D – 30 m (AW3D30) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free with registration

    JAXA · Global (including Japan)

    Free 1 arc-second global DSM from ALOS PRISM stereo imagery; free registration.

    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    Free with registration; see terms
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    eorc.jaxa.jp

    Verified

Land cover 1

Land cover datasets for every country

Buildings 2

Building footprint data for every country

  • PLATEAU 3D city models (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

    Open CityGML 3D building models for over 200 cities, distributed via the G-Spatial Information Center.

    • Buildings
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    CityGML, 3D Tiles, MVT
    Link
    mlit.go.jp

    Verified

  • Buildings of Japan (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HDX)

    OpenStreetMap building footprints exported by HOT and refreshed regularly.

    • Buildings
    Licence
    ODbL 1.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage, GeoParquet, GeoJSON, PMTiles
    Link
    data.humdata.org

    Verified

Census & statistics 4

Census and statistics data for every country

  • e-Stat (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    Statistics Bureau of Japan

    Portal of official statistics with an API; census and economic data at prefecture and municipality level.

    • Census & statistics
    • Boundaries & admin
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    CSV, Shapefile, API
    Link
    e-stat.go.jp

    Verified

  • jSTAT MAP (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free with registration

    Statistics Bureau of Japan

    Web GIS for mapping census and economic census statistics; free registration for full features.

    • Census & statistics
    • Population
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    jstatmap.e-stat.go.jp

    Verified

  • Office of Director-General for Policy Planning (Statistical Standards) (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Office of Director-General for Policy Planning (Statistical Standards)

    National statistical office (from the UN Statistics Division directory).

    • Census & statistics
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    soumu.go.jp

    Verified

  • Statistics Bureau – census boundary and mesh data (e-Stat GIS) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Statistics Bureau

    Census small-area (chōchō) boundaries and grid-square (mesh) statistics for download.

    • Census & statistics
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Population
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, GML, CSV
    Link
    e-stat.go.jp

    Verified

Addresses & cadastre 1

Address and cadastral data for every country

  • Ministry of Justice registry map data (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Ministry of Justice

    Official land registry (cadastral) maps released through the G-Spatial Information Center; community converters to GeoJSON exist.

    • Addresses & cadastre
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    XML, GeoJSON
    Link
    moj.go.jp

    Verified

Transport 1

Road, rail and transport data for every country

Climate & weather 1

Climate and weather data for every country

  • JMA past weather data download (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Japan Meteorological Agency

    Hourly, daily and monthly AMeDAS and station observations selectable by station and period.

    • Climate & weather
    Licence
    Government of Japan Standard Terms of Use 2.0 (CC BY 4.0 compatible)
    Formats
    CSV
    Link
    data.jma.go.jp

    Verified

Natural hazards 2

Natural hazard data for every country

  • J-SHIS – Japan Seismic Hazard Information Station (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED)

    Probabilistic seismic hazard maps, active fault models and subsurface velocity structure on 250 m grids.

    • Natural hazards
    • Geology
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    Shapefile, CSV, API
    Link
    j-shis.bosai.go.jp

    Verified

  • Hazard Map Portal Site (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism / GSI

    Flood, landslide, tsunami and storm-surge hazard layers nationwide, also available as map tiles.

    • Natural hazards
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Formats
    XYZ tiles
    Link
    disaportal.gsi.go.jp

    Verified

Geology 2

Geology data for every country

  • Seamless Digital Geological Map of Japan (1:200,000) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Geological Survey of Japan, AIST

    Nationwide seamless geological map with downloadable vectors and tile/WMS services.

    • Geology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    Shapefile, KML, WMS, XYZ tiles
    Link
    gbank.gsj.jp

    Verified

  • GeomapNavi (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Geological Survey of Japan, AIST

    Viewer for GSJ geological maps at multiple scales, plus geophysical and geochemical maps.

    • Geology
    Licence
    See publisher terms
    Link
    gbank.gsj.jp

    Verified

Marine & coastal 2

Marine, coastal and bathymetry data for every country

Environment 1

Environmental and protected area data for every country

Open data portal 2

Open geospatial data portals for every country

  • e-Gov Data Portal (data.go.jp) (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Digital Agency

    National open data catalogue; most data under the Government Standard Terms of Use.

    • Open data portal
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Link
    data.e-gov.go.jp

    Verified

  • G-Spatial Information Center (opens in a new tab)

    Portal Cost: Free

    Association for Promotion of Infrastructure Geospatial Information Distribution

    Japan's geospatial data hub hosting PLATEAU, point-cloud data, prefectural open data and the MOJ registry maps.

    • Open data portal
    Licence
    Varies by dataset
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoJSON, CityGML, LAS
    Link
    front.geospatial.jp

    Verified

Global datasets that cover Japan

Worldwide and continental layers that include Japan, useful where national data is missing, restricted or inconsistent across borders.

Boundaries & admin
Elevation / DEM
Imagery
Land cover
Buildings
Population
Census & statistics
Addresses & cadastre
Transport
Hydrology
Climate & weather
Natural hazards
Geology
Marine & coastal
Environment
Open data portal

Browse all 127 global datasets

Tutorials that use this kind of data

Neighbouring countries