The platform is called Metaverse Seoul, and it has games, a chat, meeting scheduling, business advising, public document filing, and virtual tours of Seoul’s most well-known landmarks.
Those planning a trip to Seoul may download Metaverse Seoul from the App Store or Google Play. For the convenience of international users, all chats are translated into English.
According to Seoul Metropolitan Government Digital Policy Office director general Kim Jin-man, operations in Chinese and Japanese are now being created and will be accessible in the second or third phase of the platform, which is scheduled to open within the next three years.
In the first release of the website, citizens of Seoul will be able to submit official municipal papers and petitions as well as obtain tailored responses to questions concerning local taxation. The virtual business help centre on the platform also allows for remote consultation with specialists through chat, audio, video, and screen-sharing tools.
Moreover, Metaforest is an anonymous online counselling service where students may talk about their personal and academic problems with a trained therapist.
Users of the metaverse platform have access to a digital recreation of Seoul Plaza, where they may engage in a variety of virtual activities like playing games and digitally touring the Mayor’s Office. Virtual tours of Seoul’s top 10 tourist destinations are also available.
Metaverse Seoul, according to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, “is an inclusive administrative service” that everyone may benefit without any limitations due to time and location.
However, the Mayor did also note the gap between the city’s elderly citizens and its younger, more tech-savvy inhabitants, and he stated that in the second phase of development, the local administration is discussing establishing an “easy mode” programme that would make the metaverse platform’s services accessible to the latter group.
The local administration has already invested over 2 billion won (around $1.6 million), and this year they want to invest around 2.8 billion won (around $2.3 million) for the second phase. By 2026, authorities plan to have launched the last stage.
Until now, no other large city has implemented a metaverse platform for government services. As a plus, the city of Seoul has ambitious intentions to expand its governmental, commercial, touristic, and cultural services during the next five years.
The Korean government and private enterprises have been working on metaverse platforms for a number of different industries since the introduction of the country’s three-year Metaverse Industry Promotion Act last September.
Officials in Korea have allocated over $187 million to the metaverse sector. The country’s metaverse will serve as a foundation for the expansion of virtual industries including tourism, education, and journalism.
Source: tourism-review.com
