Kochi Prefecture conducted a one-year social experiment starting in April 1997 as a model for advanced rural informatics in an automobile society. Information terminal equipment was installed at "Michi-no-Eki" roadside stations, which enabled people to get different types of local information, from road and tourist information to local government information, to encourage the revitalization of rural areas, to enrich communication and enhance industries. This paper reports on the evaluation of this experiment, issues obtained from it, and approaches for further development. Also, based upon the results from an earlier experiment, the Kochi government has just launched another social experiment from this April to provide drivers and local residents with integrated services, so that rural ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) could be promoted from wide ranging points of view. The purposes and outline of the experiment are described in this paper. (A*)
Abstract