Eric Chau's UBC MLIS Portfolio

01. Classification System – Create

Resource: Points of Interest in Japan

The Points of Interest are organized by the following classifications

  1. Location Hierarchy
    • Island – 1 of the 4 major islands in Japan
    • Region – 1 of the 8 Regions in Japan
    • Prefecture – 1 of the 47 Prefectures in Japan
  2. Point of Interest Types
    • One of:
      • Accommodation
      • Attraction
      • Food and Beverage
      • Shopping
      • Transportation

Island

北海道
Hokkaido
本州
Honshu
四国
Shigoku
九州・沖縄
Kyushu & Okinawa

Regions

北海道
Hokkaido
東北
Tohoku
関東
Kanto
中部
Chubu
近畿
Kinki
中国
Chugoku
四国
Shigoku
九州
Kyushu

Prefectures

For brevity, I am including a partial list of the 47 Japanese prefectures.

北海道
Hokkaido
東京都
Tokyo
大阪府
Osaka
奈良県
Nara

Primary Point of Interest Type

Some points of interest could fall under multiple point of interest types; for example, a hotel could also have a restaurant operating under the same name. In such case only the primary type is considered. For real-life application, we would probably want to include all classifications for each resource and let the search algorithm to determine the optimal order. For an itinerary website, the benefit of showing a potential match probably outweigh the cost of serving an irrelevant result. Machine Learning algorithms will help prioritize the results and improve accuracy and specificity over time.

Accommodation

Attraction

Food & Beverage

Transportation

Resources (Examples)

Cafe & Pension Asuka

本州
Honshu
近畿
Kinki
奈良県
Nara

Accommodation

Kansai International Airport

本州
Honshu
近畿
Kinki
大阪府
Osaka

Transportation

Universal Studios Japan

本州
Honshu
近畿
Kinki
大阪府
Osaka

Attraction

Sushi Dai

本州
Honshu
関東
Kanto
東京都
Tokyo

Food & Beverage

The Next Steps

In the above example, each prefecture is part of a region, which in turn is part of an island. The hierarchy is very clear with no overlaps; that is, if prefecture is within Kanto, that prefecture has to be on the Honshu island. It will not be the case for the 広域 (wide area) definition, in which some prefecture could fall under a different wide area from other prefecture within the same region. For instance, the Mie prefecture, which is part of the Kinki Region, is part of the 中部圏 (Chubu Circle) while other prefectures in the Kinki Region belongs to the 近畿圏 (Kinki Circle).