Overview of the 2026 White Paper on Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism | Chapter 11Advancing Efficiency Through MLIT DX and Technology R&D

Against the backdrop of society-wide digitalization, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is advancing the digitalization of administrative procedures and documents, data-driven policymaking, and open data initiatives. Based on priority plans and the MLIT DX Vision, it aims to create an environment in which the public and private sectors can use data and develop new services.

Digital transformation in the infrastructure sector is an effort to make the infrastructure environment smarter, including administrators' working practices and services and procedures for users. Through three-dimensional hazard maps, remote inspections, digital rebar inspections, and automated and remote construction, it is transforming the construction production process from surveying and design through construction, inspection, maintenance, and renewal.

These efforts extend beyond construction to intelligent transport systems, automated driving, geospatial information, digital government, water management, railways, big data, smart cities, ports, and roads. Technology research and development seeks to realize a sustainable and resilient society and a safe, secure, and prosperous future by linking technology policy with implementation in society.

In the construction industry, these efforts provide a foundation for simultaneously improving working practices, including higher wage levels and more days off, and raising productivity. Automated and remote construction help address labor shortages, improve on-site safety, and enable the operation of multiple machines, supporting the construction industry's role in maintaining regional communities.

Road users are expected to benefit from improved convenience through real-time travel-time, congestion, and traffic-regulation information. Using ETC and ETC2.0 data contributes to congestion and accident countermeasures, logistics management, improved driving fuel economy, and reduced environmental burdens, including CO2 emissions.

In local communities, automated driving is used to maintain and improve local public transportation and address driver shortages. Sharing geospatial information, 3D city models, pedestrian-flow data, and urban-transport data improves urban development, disaster prevention and mitigation, and the creation of new services, while supporting policy formation by local governments.

When floods, landslides, and other disasters occur, flood forecasting, identification of inundation areas and sites of sediment movement, consolidation of disaster information, and emergency disaster-mitigation measures during volcanic eruptions support rapid response and early evacuation. In water supply and sewerage, digital technologies help improve maintenance efficiency in response to the decline in skilled personnel and aging facilities.

The stated direction is to raise the convenience of administrative services, the efficiency of infrastructure management, transport safety, and regional sustainability in an integrated manner by developing common foundations for data and technology and expanding collaboration among industry, academia, government, and civil society.

Since FY2016, i-Construction has pursued productivity improvements across every stage, from surveying and measurement, design, construction, and inspection to maintenance and renewal, using information and communications technology. Since April 2024, as i-Construction 2.0, it has accelerated construction automation through a data-sharing platform for construction machinery, safety rules, automated construction, remote construction, and the use of AI.

In April 2025, the ministry compiled a policy for open data initiatives in the infrastructure sector and is promoting data integration and use through the MLIT Data Platform. The second edition of the Infrastructure DX Action Plan organizes the intended outcomes of individual measures and their implementation schedule through FY2026.

The Infrastructure DX Awards were renamed from the i-Construction Awards in FY2022 and expanded to include efforts that improve use and services as well as initiatives outside the construction industry. In FY2025, four organizations received the MLIT Minister's Award, 27 received the Excellence Award, and two received the Startup Encouragement Award.

In intelligent transport systems, efforts are advancing to provide real-time road-traffic information through VICS, support congestion avoidance and safe driving through ETC2.0, and use big data such as speed, routes, and sudden braking. While taking privacy into account, the ministry is working to build a provision system that local governments and other users can readily access.

Automated driving is being advanced through both institutional development and commercialization. In October 2024, an automated-driving working group was established to examine matters including the appropriate form of accident-investigation organizations. Roadside-cooperative systems and driving-space improvements, including intersection sensors, merging assistance, and predictive information, are also progressing.

To support a geospatial information society, the ministry is developing and updating national land information foundations, including electronic reference points, the Electronic National Land Basic Map, and National Land Numerical Information. It is expanding the sharing and use of geospatial information through revisions to elevation data for satellite-positioning infrastructure, nationwide three-dimensional mapping of the Electronic National Land Basic Map, the GSI Maps, the G-Space Project, and G-Space EXPO.

For administrative procedures, the ministry is expanding the One-Stop Service for automobile ownership-related procedures under a policy of making written submissions online in principle. In April 2025, it added periodic inspections and other procedures for small two-wheeled motor vehicles and trialed electronic submission of PDF attachments at four district transport bureaus and other offices.

For optical fiber cores used to manage nationally controlled rivers and roads, the ministry is opening the cores to private businesses and others and aims to provide centralized public access and one-stop procedures for location information on accommodation spaces along roads and rivers. In water management, it is developing Smart River Spot, river-basin data platforms, river-basin digital testbeds, and DiMAPS.

The Smart City Implementation Support Project uses advanced technologies and public-private data to address urban challenges and selected 10 districts in FY2025. Project PLATEAU is developing 3D city models and advancing underground-structure work, use-case development, human-resource development, local hackathons, international standardization, and data development in Southeast Asia.

The MLIT Data Platform is an infrastructure that enables cross-sector searches and retrieval of data on national land, economic activities, and natural phenomena. Since its public release in April 2020, it has expanded map display, search and download, API, and AI-based natural-language search and analysis functions, with the aim of realizing a digital twin. In ports, the ministry is promoting the integration of procedures and facility information through Cyber Port, while on roads it is advancing the integration of passage verification and road data through xROAD.