How KDDI Used Skylark to Enhance Asset Mapping and Streamline Maintenance Workflows
From July to September 2025, KDDI conducted a field verification project in Yamanashi Prefecture to evaluate how centimeter-level GNSS positioning could improve the mapping and management of local water infrastructure. The project leveraged Swift Navigation’s Skylark Precise Positioning Service, delivered in partnership with KDDI in Japan.
The initiative addressed a growing challenge faced by municipalities nationwide: aging water infrastructure combined with limited technical resources, making fast and accurate asset mapping increasingly difficult.
You can read KDDI’s full press release here (in Japanese).
The Challenge: Accurate Mapping at Scale
Water utilities depend on precise location data for valves, pipes, and leak points, but traditional workflows can be time-consuming; for instance, locating buried or obscured valves frequently requires crews to manually cross-reference paper maps and use heavy, specialized equipment that is slow to set up. Field teams need solutions that deliver reliable accuracy while remaining simple to deploy, especially across geographically diverse regions.
KDDI sought a positioning solution that could provide uniform centimeter-level performance across wide areas, while supporting modern, mobile-first workflows.
The Solution: Skylark Precise Positioning
Skylark is Swift Navigation’s cloud-based precise positioning service that delivers GNSS corrections to devices over cellular networks, improving the accuracy of standard GPS positioning from 5–10 meters down to just centimeters.
Within the Skylark service portfolio, Skylark Cx provides a PPP-RTK–based approach designed to deliver consistent centimeter-level performance regardless of distance to ground reference stations, enabling nationwide coverage with no gaps. In Japan, the network of reference stations is built and operated in partnership with KDDI, creating a robust nationwide foundation for high-precision positioning.
For this project, KDDI leveraged Skylark Cx as part of its existing high-precision positioning service, enabling field crews to capture accurate coordinates using compact GNSS receivers paired with smartphones, without the need for specialized surveying equipment.
Results from the Field
During on-site verification, crews mapped water infrastructure assets across multiple locations in Yamanashi Prefecture. The results showed:
- Centimeter-level accuracy in open-sky conditions
- Stable, usable positioning performance even in challenging environments
- Position capture in approximately one minute per point, using a lightweight mobile setup
KDDI also evaluated digital workflows for leak detection reporting. By replacing manual paperwork with a digital workflow, crews were able to submit reports from the field in roughly two minutes, down from the two hours typically required for discovery and reporting.
You can read more about the Yamanashi project here (in Japanese).
Why It Matters
This project demonstrated how high-precision positioning can be made practical for everyday infrastructure operations. By simplifying equipment requirements and accelerating field workflows, utilities can improve asset records, increase productivity, and respond more quickly to maintenance needs.
Looking Ahead
Following the successful verification, KDDI plans to expand the use of high-precision positioning into additional regions and applications. This includes not only broader infrastructure management and disaster response but also the day-to-day work of crews—such as quickly locating critical valves that may be hidden by soil or snow, and optimizing new water pipe installation.
Based on these results, KDDI is committed to rolling out this system nationwide and, in the long term, expanding the technology to map various assets for digital mapping and other key industries.
Through partnerships like this one, Swift Navigation continues to enable scalable, centimeter-accurate positioning worldwide—powered by Skylark and delivered in collaboration with trusted mobile network operators.