The Digital View in Seoul- “the future of subway navigation”(1)

Imagine the following situation: You travel to a new country- you want go from city A to city B- want to meet a business partner in a restaurant. You decide to take the metro. So you head down to the station, go to the ticket booth and… you suddenly realize you have absolutely no clue which line to take, which ticket to buy- so you decide to look onto the old dirty paper map that is hanging on the wall next to the ticket booth- unfortunately it is not very easy to understand and the translation into English is very weak- so what do you do? You try to call your friend who is a local? - Oops it does not work because you don’t have access down at the metro station- so what do you do then? You ask someone for help? Has something like this already happened to you?

Situations like this happen very often in our home cities, Munich and Bangalore. Foreigners ask us a lot of questions at the railway station. We are happy to help but sometimes even we do not know what suits best to their needs…

This cannot happen in Seoul in Korea anymore. Seoul, known as “a relentlessly modern city of innovative technology”(4), installed the Digital View into the Metropolitan Subway which is a subway navigation machine of a special kind. It was created by Daum, one of Korea´s leading internet portals and looks like a very big smart phone with a touch screen the size of a paper map poster.

Some features of Digital View are listed below:

Subway navigation: If the user indicates his/her start and ending stations, Digital View automatically optimizes the route for the passenger. Besides, it shows the user the itinerary on the map and tells him/her where to transfer. It shows users the station where they are located and how far away the target location is.

Digital map: Similar to Google Earth, the Digital View provides a satellite imaging of the city. It contains a 3D road map with which you can search the exact distance from the station to the destination, navigate through the streets and get a 360 degree view of anywhere in Seoul. This allows users to familiarize themselves with the surroundings before they have been there in person.

Internet phone: Dialers can call anywhere in Korea free of charge. For other phone calls the user can pay with T-money (explained below). A separate square touchscreen can be used to take notes during the phone call.  

Top news headlines, weather updates and financial information can be obtained from Digital View.

It provides the user with information about popular tourist spots and restaurants: location, distance, how to get there, telephone numbers, etc.
Moreover, movie tickets can be purchased from this multi-function machine and users can
take snapshots of digital coupons with the cellphone to get discounts at local stores.

Here is an example of how the Digital View is being applied in real life:

...and how does the payment work? You can either pay cash, by card or with T- money. T- money payment works as follows: the user buys a T- money card available from airports, subways, and convenience stores which circumvents the need for loose change. This card can be recharged and cannot only be used in connection with the Digital View but also to buy goods in convenience stores and retail venues. Even some mobile phones in Korea contain a T-money function. Thus, the cashless payment procedure has become the norm in Seoul.

We think that this multi- function machine is a great invention. It facilitates the traveler’s life and improves the image of the destination. On the other hand it needs a lot of electricity and one might argue that it is not necessary because things worked out even before this machine existed.

What do you think? Do you think Seoul has just installed it as Korea wants to be seen as a high tech, digital country or do you think it is very useful and every bigger city should follow this example?

Sources: (1)http://www.advancedtechnologykorea.com/303,

http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=100359&code=Ne2&category=2,
http://www.corbinball.com/articles_technology/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=8591,
(4)http://discoveringkorea.com/2011/02/26/seouls-digital-media-city/
Picture: http://janchipchase.com/2011/12/seoul-digital-view/