Note: The targeted audience is the foreigners who are new in the town and are not afraid of using web technology!
Ironically, traveling to East Asian countries is exciting and often problematic at same time. Here are some unconventional yet effective ways to find places in SEOUL ( 서울 ).
These days there are a lot of useful maps available ( English only or English+Korean) . As per my experience they are not much useful, because you won't find English written everywhere.Furthermore, Korean maps are difficult to read.
SEOUL ( 서울 ) transportation systems is well-designed and every tourist spot is co-located with a Subway station (지하철)or Bus (버스) Stop. So while surfing the internet you will get to know Subway station name along with exit no. / Bus Stop name under the Directions tab of any tourist spot.
If you are confused and want to see how it look likes in reality ( 2D/3D Images , Virtual reality), Then you have to use either Naver or DAUM maps.
For example : You want to visit National Museum of Korea in Seoul . Here are the steps :
1- After Google-ing you will get to this website -> http://www.museum.go.kr/
2- You will click on Directions and get to know station name which is ICHON on Line 4 -> http://www.museum.go.kr/main/publish/view.jsp?menuID=002001002001
3- Now you know the Station name and exit no -> ICHON Station Line 4 , Exit 3 , next thing you would like to do is to look into Subway map and figure out how to reach there.
You can use this website for Figuring our the subway route :
http://seoulsubway.co.kr/station/eng/linemap.action
4- Now you want to know how you are going to reach National Museum of Korea , how do it looks like. How far it is from exit 3 ?
To answer these questions, you have to use Naver or Daum maps. Search in Naver or Daum works in Korean language only. Firstly open this website - > http://map.naver.com
Now you have to search how ICHON is written in Korean ( If you are not familiar with Korean language).
Once you search it on Google, you will get Wikipedia link. On the right side, you will see description of station with Korean name. All you have to do is to copy the Hangul name and paste it in Naver (map.naver.com )
It is recommended to use Google translator toolbar so that Korean characters on website can be translated to English. This is useful for knowing the names of places in English.
The above figure is obtained after searching station name in map.naver.com. I have decrypted various options into English. Since we have to go out of exit 3, so I highlighted it. Now we can use "street view" option and place it near exit 3. We will get the following view:
Once you navigate and get fair idea of surrounding environment, you will see National Museum of Korea on your left. The next figure shows you one of the view.
In Conclusion, I have explained the nitty-gritty of using Naver. Next time I will elaborate another example using Daum, and how to reach destination both using BUS and Subway!
If you have any queries, kindly post it in comments.
Ironically, traveling to East Asian countries is exciting and often problematic at same time. Here are some unconventional yet effective ways to find places in SEOUL ( 서울 ).
Please pay attention to some of Korean words that I am writing in brackets!
These days there are a lot of useful maps available ( English only or English+Korean) . As per my experience they are not much useful, because you won't find English written everywhere.Furthermore, Korean maps are difficult to read.
SEOUL ( 서울 ) transportation systems is well-designed and every tourist spot is co-located with a Subway station (지하철)or Bus (버스) Stop. So while surfing the internet you will get to know Subway station name along with exit no. / Bus Stop name under the Directions tab of any tourist spot.
If you are confused and want to see how it look likes in reality ( 2D/3D Images , Virtual reality), Then you have to use either Naver or DAUM maps.
For example : You want to visit National Museum of Korea in Seoul . Here are the steps :
1- After Google-ing you will get to this website -> http://www.museum.go.kr/
2- You will click on Directions and get to know station name which is ICHON on Line 4 -> http://www.museum.go.kr/main/publish/view.jsp?menuID=002001002001
3- Now you know the Station name and exit no -> ICHON Station Line 4 , Exit 3 , next thing you would like to do is to look into Subway map and figure out how to reach there.
You can use this website for Figuring our the subway route :
http://seoulsubway.co.kr/station/eng/linemap.action
4- Now you want to know how you are going to reach National Museum of Korea , how do it looks like. How far it is from exit 3 ?
 |
| Figure 1: station description |
To answer these questions, you have to use Naver or Daum maps. Search in Naver or Daum works in Korean language only. Firstly open this website - > http://map.naver.com
Now you have to search how ICHON is written in Korean ( If you are not familiar with Korean language).
Once you search it on Google, you will get Wikipedia link. On the right side, you will see description of station with Korean name. All you have to do is to copy the Hangul name and paste it in Naver (map.naver.com )
It is recommended to use Google translator toolbar so that Korean characters on website can be translated to English. This is useful for knowing the names of places in English.
 |
| Figure 2: Naver Map with Google translator showing various options |
The above figure is obtained after searching station name in map.naver.com. I have decrypted various options into English. Since we have to go out of exit 3, so I highlighted it. Now we can use "street view" option and place it near exit 3. We will get the following view:
 |
| Figure 2: Street view with navigation option |
Once you navigate and get fair idea of surrounding environment, you will see National Museum of Korea on your left. The next figure shows you one of the view.
 |
| Figure 3: This is view of National Museum |
In Conclusion, I have explained the nitty-gritty of using Naver. Next time I will elaborate another example using Daum, and how to reach destination both using BUS and Subway!
If you have any queries, kindly post it in comments.
Comments