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/

Linking the social power of photos and celebrities

Online travel start-up Trippy has launched a promising campaign using the magnetic potential of photos, inspired by the success of online photo network Pinterest. The latter has been awarded the most successful online newcomer and is incredibly popular among women for sharing travel, food and beauty images. Pinterest shows a remarkable increase in referral traffic and tourist managers are realizing its potential. 

Trippy uses a similar model, by offering its users the possibility to create travel boards, on which one can pin web pictures from holiday destinations. Other users can then share and comment on these travel pictures and tag them under “want to go” or “been there”. The pictures are geo-tagged and allow for trip planning, social media sharing and affiliate partnerships.

Image source: http://www.trippy.com

Trippy is not the first to copy the idea of tagging and sharing travel photos. Other examples of travel sites are Wanderfly and Gogobot. In order to differentiate itself and create a buzz in the fast-moving online travel world, Trippy is supported by its advisory board made up of celebrities and bloggers such as Jason Mraz, Rachel Zoe, Tim Ferriss, Randi Zuckerberg, Anthony Bourdain, Kevin Rose, Andrew Zimmern, Gary Vaynerchuk, Chase Jarvis, Soleil Moon Frye, Soraya Darabi, Johnny Jet, Veronica Belmont, Kim Mance, Brett Snyder and more. All of them globetrotters, these Trippy-related personalities will pin pictures of their travel adventures and inspire the community.

The related article on Tnooz “Social travel gets graphic as Trippy, Wanderfly, Gogobot, Gtrot display Pinterest interest” triggered a discussion about the approach and similarity of these start-ups to Pinterest and the effectiveness of a celebrity advisory board. It is easy to agree on the point that Trippy´s model seems like a copy of Pinterest, which will have a hard time to be innovative and viable on the long run, considering the competition. However, Trippy is on a good start, arriving at the right time to capture an important share of the travel community. The approach to integrate opinion leaders and celebrities has been proven to be successful in other cases, e.g. just recently EasyJet released a campaign for travel bloggers. They can act as a major pull factor towards a destination. It is to be observed in how far Trippy can be profitable and manage to turn travel inspiration into travel decisions.

Keywords: Trippy, Pinterest, pinning, travel bloggers, Wanderfly, Gogobot, Gtrot

Sources:

Schaal, D. (2012). Social travel gets graphic as Trippy, Wanderfly, Gogobot, Gtrot display pinterest interest. Retrieved on April 21, 2012 from http://www.tnooz.com/2012/03/09/news/social-travel-gets-graphic-as-trippy-wanderfly-gogobot-gtrot-display-pinterest-interest/

Cost2go (2012). Why all the sudden Pinterest? Retrieved on April 21, 2012 from http://cost2go.com/2012/03/17/why-all-the-sudden-pinterest/

Google’s travel push anger web rivals

The article is extracted from the Wall street journal and was published on December 27^th 2011. The article is outlining the Google’ strategy to develop its presence on the travel market and the consequences it has on the main online travel websites.

Google power on the Internet is huge. According to Compete Inc., an American web analytics firm; 10% to 20% of the traffic made on the top travel websites such as Expedia and Orbitz is provided by Google. The company has first started its business with providing a search engine tool where the contents of websites are analyzed through a complex algorithm to determine their ranking position on search results page.

Nowadays, search engines are determinant in the success of e-commerce websites and any changes in their ranking position on search results pages cause dramatic changes on the traffic, conversion rate and visibility of these websites.

The method for ranking a website provided by the algorithm has always been a secret for the world but as long as the company was positioned as a search referee, the websites had to rely on Google. Hence, over the last few years, Google has expanded its market to other services such as social networks (Google +), advertising (Google Adwords), music (You tube) and emailing (Gmail).

The company is now looking at extending its business in order to take a piece of the $1 billion online travel market.

Google flight

In December 2011, the company has launched a flight search tool on which the first results are exclusively links to the airlines websites and top travel websites only appear further down. In addition, the software that supplies the flight data for Google is the same supplier than for its competitors Orbitz and Kayak.

Therefore, when Google has shown interest in acquiring ITA software Inc. , the top travel websites sued the company in justice for antitrust scrutiny. In response to the department of justice accusation, Google has promised to provide tools for driving more traffic to online travel agency and make the flight data available for its competitors.

However, the company was not required from the DOJ to link directly to the travel websites and it apologized for its failure to competitors by saying airlines companies themselves were preventing them from doing it. Indeed, the situation is benefitting airlines that were losing traffic with OTA’s and forced to pay high booking commission (e.g. it costs $11 for processing a booking from OTA’s against $1 when processing directly on the supplier website).

Nowadays, Google is becoming the competitor and the supplier for travel websites and has broken its promise to provide links directly to travel websites. In this case, the real question that is raised here is on Google’s ability to remain an unbiased search engine while making business on travel market. For the moment, the flight search tool only concerns the domestic market but the company is already looking at expanding it to international market. 

By becoming both judge and jury and taking advantage from its quite monopolistic position, Google raised the issue of ethics in e-commerce. Besides, the impunity that Google is benefitting from the U.S justice administration let us think that e-business is still in its development phase and has to be controlled and limited for the benefits of both consumers and competition. 

Indeed, although free competition is defended in all domains by authorities such as the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice (Antitrust division) in the US, the Internet stills suffers from a lack of rules as technologies and innovations go faster than regulations. 

Nevertheless, at the end of procedures that can last several years, some companies manage to make the law apply to some websites accused of unfair competition and abuse of dominating position. For example, in September 2011, Vistaprint was convicted to pay 250 000 euros for having used misleading web banners advertising free business cards giving to the website a competitive advantage contrary to the free competition regulations. Let’s hope this case can set a legal precedent to guarantee free competition on the Internet. 

FMG sets up new subsidiary: InfoGate Information Systems GmbH

New company to market intelligent navigation systems for quick and efficient guidance.

Munich Airport has implemented a new information and navigation system: InfoGates. It allows customers to ask virtually questions and get quick answers from the staff through the help of 6 big screens situated in the Terminal 1 of the airport. This virtual relationship is possible thanks to the assistance of the intelligent navigation system.

Other devices are accessible in 17 locations spread in the Terminal 1. They allow passengers to navigate by themselves to get answers and help. For instance, travelers can get virtual maps to find the best access to a specific destination inside the airport and get the time estimation. Besides they have access to all the services and facilities available in the airport. The aim of the airport through this touchscreen system is to make easier and enhance travelers’ experience.

 

This new system is clearly a success. On one hand the prestigious international 2011 Good Design Award has pointed up this new technology and on the other hand the system has attracted other actors of the tourism and travel industry, which has pushed the company FMG to set up a subsidiary only specialized in InfoGates to market it worldwide.

The example of the Munich Airport underlines to what extend technology can be a successful tool both in the interest of the customers and the company. This new system implementation has also clearly advertised the airport and its partners.

Keywords:  Munich Airport, InfoGates, Airport technology, touchscreen technology

Sources:

Travel Daily News. (April, 05, 2012). New company to market intelligent navigation systems for quick and efficient guidance; Retrieved April, 07, 2012 from http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/48669-New-company-to-market-intelligent-navigation-systems-for-quick-and-efficient-guidance,

Future Travel Experience. (April, 05, 2012). Munich airport to extend infogates to terminal 2; Retrieved April, 19, 2012 from http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2012/04/munich-airport-to-extend-infogates-to-terminal-2/