Delivered on December 15, 2025
Reliability and Track Record of POI Databases: Beyond the Promise by Navit
Speakers:
Yasuyo Fukui, CEO
Takeru Inoue, Manager, Sales Section 1, BS Business Division
Yugo Nakajima, Sales Section 1, BS Business Division
Affiliation and position information is as of the time of distribution
This is an interview with Navit Inc. (Mr. Fukui, Mr. Inoue, and Mr. Nakajima).
Navit was founded with the invention of a "transfer convenience map," which was commercialized with the aim of reducing the burden of travel at stations. Currently, the company mainly focuses on POI data with latitude and longitude, and monthly updates corporate telephone directory data for approximately 6.8 million locations, which are provided to a wide range of applications including maps, navigation, and search. Its station maps cover approximately 76% of the approximately 9,800 stations nationwide, and are available in up to 13 languages to meet inbound tourist demand. They spoke about ensuring the reliability of POI data, which has been a part of the company's founding, and their desire to steadily improve its freshness through the "Reverse Project," which strengthens the update chain.
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Unparalleled Data Freshness and Reliability Achieved by "Human Wave Tactics"
Navit's greatest strength is its unique data collection and organization system, known as the "Sozu Style," which leverages a nationwide network of housewives.
The core of the data the company provides is its corporate telephone directory data covering 6.8 million locations. Originally based on data from telephone exchanges, this data boasts extremely high reliability. Furthermore, the company boasts a 76% share of nationwide station maps and monthly updates to vast and rapidly changing data, including over 120,000 records of department information for local governments. This data supports decision-making in a wide range of business areas, including location-based marketing (LBM), such as competitive research for supermarket opening plans and map infrastructure development for transportation and infrastructure companies.
This data, handled by the Business Scale Business Unit, where Inoue and Nakajima work, is not simply a list of numbers; it is meticulously organized to keep up with current trends, including the locations of evacuation shelters and women-only cars, and even the latest multilingual information needed to accommodate inbound tourism. This ensures high freshness. While past experiences, such as struggling to monetize Akiya store information and supermarket flyer information, have been shared, these experiences have helped build the company's current robust data foundation.
Pursuing "100% Answers" in the Age of Generative AI
Navit shares a frank view on the use of generative AI, which has been gaining attention in recent years. The accuracy rate of answers derived by current AI is around 70%, and while it is highly convenient, "100% accuracy" is essential for decisions that affect the core of a business.
Unlike crawler data, which carries the risk of hallucination (lies) and ethical concerns, the data compiled by Navit through human hands and eye serves as a highly reliable final answer. It is this "remaining 30%" data that enables companies to make flexible decisions, and Navit is actively collaborating with many companies.
Going forward, the company is focusing on promoting the "Reverse Project," which centrally manages data and instantly updates it across more than 260 provider sites, thereby maximizing data freshness.
Summary
Navit, Inc. has supported the foundation of Japan's location information business through its "human wave" approach and its ability to develop high-precision POI data, cultivated over the 25 years since its founding. The highly reliable data provided by the company will continue to increase in value as unshakable evidence in a wide range of fields, including maps and navigation, marketing, and administrative digital transformation. In an era where generative AI is becoming more widespread, the company's efforts to improve data freshness will be essential for future business.