News

PACIFIC CONSULTANTS CO., LTD. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President Executive Officer: Osamu OMOTO) has released "Machishirube Osaka," a website that allows users to easily find a neighborhood they want to live in using a map, leveraging the company's expertise in urban development ^*1. This website is a service released as the next step after "Machishirube," which helps users find neighborhoods they want to live in within Tokyo.

The map displays data such as average rent prices in Osaka, nearest train stations, convenience store locations, and safety information.
Click here for the "Machishirube Osaka" website ▼
https://osaka.machi-shirube.jp/

"Machishirube" is an information service that visualizes important information for finding a place to live, such as rent, nearest station, convenience store location, and safety, on a map in an easy-to-understand way for everyone, supporting you in choosing a town that suits your desired living environment.
"Machishirube Osaka," which has just launched, utilizes a variety of big data, including data for approximately 500 train stations in Osaka Prefecture, rent data for approximately 180,000 grids (180,000 regional grids divided into 100m squares), data for approximately 10,000 stores, data for approximately 70,000 public safety locations, and disaster prediction data published by government agencies, to support users in choosing a town that suits their desired living environment.

■Key points of Machishirube Osaka (1) Designed for easy one-handed operation, it can be used even during short breaks. When you zoom in on the map, the average rent for a 100m x 100m area, the walking distance to the three nearest stations, and the locations of essential shops are automatically displayed, allowing you to instantly find the information you need.
■Key points of Machishirube Osaka (2) The search function allows you to find your ideal town based on multiple criteria. For example, you can combine conditions such as walking distance from the nearest station, the number of convenience stores within 500m, and the number of daycare centers within 1km to pinpoint the perfect town for you.
■Key points of Machishirube Osaka (3) You can easily check safety and disaster risk information, which is often not included in property listing websites, on the map. By understanding even the negative information before deciding where to live, you can make a more secure and satisfying choice of neighborhood.

■ Background of service provision
In 2024, our company released "Machishirube," a Tokyo version of our service, to help people discover the unique characteristics of a neighborhood that cannot be found on traditional property listing websites, and to find a neighborhood that suits them. We proposed "Machishirube Osaka," aiming to implement this initiative in Osaka, and in 2025, it received the highest award, the Excellence Award, at the Osaka Prefectural Government's "ODPO Data Utilization Idea Contest." This service, recognized as a good example of utilizing Osaka Prefecture's open data platform, was presented to the Osaka Smart City Partners Forum (OSPF). ^* With support from government subsidies, we have developed this service and are now officially releasing it as "Machishirube Osaka." In addition to supporting users in finding a place to live, this service also aims to contribute to solving administrative issues within Osaka Prefecture.

*The Osaka Smart City Partners Forum (OSPF) is a public-private partnership platform that supports the demonstration and implementation of ICT-based services to solve local and social issues faced by municipalities.

Reference: We received the top prize, the Excellence Award, at the "Data Utilization Idea Contest" hosted by Osaka Prefecture.
https://en.pacific.co.jp/news/2025/20250124-002568.html

■Technical features
The information provided by "Machishirube Osaka" has technical features that allow it to be used not only by users looking for a place to live, but also by private sectors and government agencies in urban development.
In the practical work of private sectors and government agencies, it is necessary to collect a wide range of local information and objectively evaluate an area. However, until now, information such as real estate prices, crime information, and disaster risk has been published individually in different media, making it very time-consuming to organize and compare them across different sources. In addition, because the aggregation units differ for each data point (real estate prices are measured in points), crime information in town/district units, and disaster information in polygon units, it has been difficult to comprehensively evaluate a single area.
"Machishirube Osaka" centralizes this dispersed regional information and organizes all data in a common unit of 100m mesh. This enables parallel comparisons with standardized conditions between areas, making it possible to provide information that can be used in practical business activities and urban development by the government agencies, where data-driven decisions are required.

■Future plan
Currently, "Machishirube Osaka" displays and searches information using common indicators across all cities, towns, and villages in Osaka Prefecture (such as "Average house rental fee" and "Time to the nearest station"). However, we believe that there is a wealth of information that expresses "Livability," including indicators specific to each municipality, such as medical facilities, nighttime lighting, noise levels, and the number of parks. In the future, we plan to gradually incorporate diverse regional information, including these municipality-specific indicators, and develop the service into one that not only helps people choose a place to live but also contributes to urban development and regional revitalization by local governments, by disseminating the unique "Charms of Town" of each municipality.

*1) In terms of urban development know-how, PACIFIC CONSULTANTS utilizes its expertise in urban planning, hub development, transportation planning, architectural design, green space planning, disaster prevention measures, and big data processing technologies. Furthermore, the systems installed in "Machishirube" and "Machishirube Osaka" apply our patented technology (Patent No. 7393576).