Please steal our Japan (Niseko) backcountry ski map

For educational purposes, we've provided most of the files necessary for replicating Niseko Backcountry in the OSF repository, under Niseko Backcountry 1st Edition Data > QGIS Project Files.

To download all the files as a ZIP file (1.1Gb), click here

If you're using this guide for creating your own map in a different part of Japan (or different part of Hokkaido), you'll need to download the relevant map data files (shapefiles) either from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan for free (basic map data only) or for a fee from the Japan Map Center here (all map data layers available).

In order to use the Japan government map data for a commercial product, or something that will be shared widely to the general public, you'll need to apply for permission to use the data. It's unlikely that you'll be rejected - this is more a process whereby the Japan government keeps a record of how their data is being utilized. Full details of how to do this can be found in this post. If you're just using the data for a hobby project, or for a research paper, or for use within a mountain club etc, there's usually no need to apply for permissions.

After applying for permission, you'll get a document like this, and you can display a note like below on your product.

In the QGIS files folder (download as 1.1Gb ZIP here), there's a QGIS project file called Niseko-Backcountry-1st-Edition-Data_qfield.qgs. Open that file in your QGIS installation.

That will load the current Niseko Backcountry working version, minus the fonts.

QGIS has a very powerful (yet slightly clunky) print layout composer module. You can download our print layout files here (ZIP, 83Kb). This ZIP file includes the full Arch E2 size Niseko Range panel (66cm x 97cm), and the Yotei-zan panel QGIS print templates.

There will be some tweaking required, such as legend items etc., but hopefully this should give you an idea of what is possible within QGIS.

We exported the main map panels from the QGIS Print Composer as TIFFs, and imported these into Adobe InDesign for the final layout work. The main Niseko Range map panel was used as-is, but the back of the map required a lot of text layout work.

You can download the InDesign file we used here (.indd file, 16Mb).

If you haven't already, once you have a working draft of the map, it's time to conduct public meetings and private one-on-one meetings with stakeholders in your region of interest, both Japanese and non-Japanese. Some might say this should be the very first step in map-creation. However, without a working draft, discussions can just become unhelpfully hypothetical.

We held two public meetings about the Niseko Backcountry map, multiple one-on-one meetings, and liaised with a number of people via email and telephone. Feedback ranged from strong support to strong (in rare cases hostile) opposition. This process of liaising with the community was scary at times, but ultimately was a very positive process that refined the map in so many ways.

• First round of feedback - About five months out from printing, we consulted one-on-one with a number of local foreign guides in the Niseko area. We received very helpful feedback, which we worked into the first draft of the map (mostly relating to the text on the rear of the map).Overall the feedback was positive and supportive.
• Public Meeting 1 (slides here, PDF, 13Mb) - About three months out from printing, we held an open town-hall style meeting at a local community center (the Kutchan Community Center). We advertised this meeting on Facebook (as a Facebook Event - see it here). We also faxed information about the event to local police, transport authorities, and council offices (see the faxed letter here). About six people responded as going, but in the end, our small room in the community center was packed with about 30-40 people, mostly local Japanese guides. We received a lot of passionate pushback and opposition at this public meeting. We were also thanked for taking the time to at least share and liaise with the community.
• Public Meeting 2 (slides here, PDF, 16Mb) - Three weeks after the first public meeting, we held another meeting at the Niseko Residents' Center. This time we were more organized and targeted in invitations to local stakeholders. Rather than opening the meeting up to anyone, we sent faxes and emails to representatives of local organizations - ski patrol, ski areas, DMOs, avalanche safety associations, guide network representatives etc. In all, we sent almost 20 faxes or emails, addressed to specific individuals (or offices). You can download all of those fax documents here (ZIP, 40Mb). It's possible to find names of most public office department heads on the Hokkaido Prefecture website here. In all, we had about 15 people attend the second meeting (representatives from Niseko Town, Iwanai Town, Hokkaido Tourism Promotion Board, Niseko Avalanche Prevention Committee, Niseko Winter Guides Association, Hanazono Ski Area etc). The tone of this meeting was much more constructive than the first meeting, with more diverse points of views represented.
• Individual emails - we exchanged opinions and fielded feedback from the likes of the Hokkaido Mountain Guides Association and others via email also.
• Final feedback and compromise - We received the most hefty pushback on the map from the Niseko Winter Guides Association (NWGA), a network of local mountain and nature guides in the greater Niseko area. Through discussions, however, it became clear that while many members of the network indicated a preference that the map not exist at all, those members were mainly concerned with a select few routes where parking particularly encroached on small, local communities. We found an amicable (if still somewhat strained) compromise by deleting those routes of particular concern from the map.

Community Liaison Report - We wrote up a report on the public feedback, available here in English (PDF, 1.5Mb) and Japanese (PDF, 1.5Mb).

We registered HokkaidoWilds.org as a publisher with the Japan ISBN Agency, which gave us the ability to use an ISBN code for the map, as a self-publisher. As for the printing and folding of the large Arch E2 size map, the only printer in Japan we could find to print on waterproof, tear-proof Yupo synthetic paper, at that size, and all machine folded, was Buyodo 武揚堂. Byuodo is Japan's oldest mapmaking company, and were fairly good to work with. They weren't able to provide us with a full folded offset print sample of the map on Yupo paper prior to committing to the 3000 copies, but in the end the map came out extremely well, with a great fold too. We paid 240yen per copy (printed, folded, shipped to Sapporo from Tokyo).

For distribution, a number of local accommodation providers in the Niseko area took maps on wholesale (1000yen), as well as retailers like Rhythm Japan. There's a full list of stockists here.