Delivered on November 24, 2025
"Piyo Quest," a points-earning app that protects everyone's city using location information and AI, by Data Insight, Inc.
Speaker: Yoshiki Nakanishi, CEO of Data Insight, Inc. / Riku Yamamoto, Director and COO
Affiliation and position information is as of the time of distribution
Data Insight's community conservation service, Piokue, is a system that uses photos and location information to inspect infrastructure and support nature conservation, launched in 2021. Users participate in a game-like manner by completing quests and earning points, helping to solve local issues.
We asked Data Insight about their future plans for collaboration with infrastructure companies and local governments, including the collaboration with Tohoku Electric Power Company.
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"Piyokue" Concept and Mechanism: Transforming Everyday Life into Community Contribution
"Piyokue" is a mobile app service aimed at mobilizing residents' efforts to protect city infrastructure and nature. While it incorporates game-like elements, in which a "chick"-like character grows by completing missions called "quests," the app essentially works by users taking photos of specific locations with their smartphones and posting them along with their location information.
This system allows ordinary residents to easily perform equipment inspections and nature surveys that traditionally required time and labor from local governments and infrastructure companies. The service is designed for "total optimization," minimizing and speeding up maintenance and inspection costs for companies and local governments, while users earn points redeemable for Amazon gift certificates and other rewards by completing missions.
Addressing Aging Infrastructure and Population Decline: Specific Use Cases
"Piyokue" launched in 2021 and has attracted attention as a solution to social issues, particularly population decline and aging infrastructure.
One specific use case is its collaboration with Tohoku Electric Power Co. By having ordinary residents discover and post photos of utility pole defects (e.g., crow's nests or tangled ivy) during normal times, power companies can streamline their inspection and maintenance work. This initiative encourages residents to participate through gamification and incentives, such as awarding high points to those who discover urgent defects. The program has achieved great results, with some users photographing over 1,500 utility poles in a two-month period.
Unique GIS Technology and Future Developments
Piyokue's technological advantage lies in the GIS (geographic information system) it uses behind the scenes. Posted data, complete with location information, is visualized on a map, allowing companies and local governments to inspect and evaluate the data on-screen and efficiently decide whether to visit the site.
Piyokue holds a patent for this system, which displays quests on a map and posts photos, establishing the company as a pioneer in this field.
Going forward, we expect to see a wide range of use cases beyond infrastructure inspections, including improving mobility in neighborhoods and cities, community revitalization initiatives like stamp rallies, and nature surveys in natural parks, all of which contribute to "enjoying and protecting cities." This platform has already attracted attention from infrastructure companies like electric power and railways, as well as local governments, urban development design firms, and general contractors. We aim to build a platform that connects enjoyment in peacetime with mutual assistance in emergencies.
Summary
Data Insight's "Piyokue" is a groundbreaking citizen-participation platform that combines location information, gamification, and AI technology to help resolve local issues in an era of aging infrastructure and declining populations. In a society where highly accurate POI data is required, this service, which links each resident's daily activities to local maintenance and inspections and environmental conservation, is key to reducing costs and strengthening crisis response capabilities for local governments and infrastructure companies. Further social implementation is expected through competition (collaboration) in a wide range of fields, including tourism and education.