The Seoul Metropolitan Government is the first local government to implement a three-dimensional virtual world 'Metaverse' based municipal administration.
On the 3rd, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the 'Metaverse Seoul Basic Plan', which contains the mid to long-term direction and strategy of the metaverse policy until 2026.
Seoul's Metaverse project is a part of the core strategy for the 'future emotional city' presented by Mayor Se-hoon Oh in 'Seoul Vision 2030'.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will invest a total of 3.9 billion KRW to build their own high-performance platform 'Metaverse Seoul' (tentative name) by the end of next year. Most of the metaverse services provided by public institutions were based on private platforms, and it was judged that there were functional limitations in implementing complex and diverse administrative services.
Through their own Metaverse platform, The Seoul Metropolitan Government will implement the Metaverse ecosystem in all administrative services, including economy, culture, tourism, education, and civil complaints, in three stages from next year.
Starting with the 'Virtual Bosingak Ringing Event at the new year’, the Virtual Mayor's Office, Seoul Fintech Lab, Invest Seoul, and Seoul Campus Town are planned to be implemented sequentially.
In 2023, a virtual general civil complaint room 'Metaverse 120 Center' (tentative name) will also be created. Even if you do not have to visit the city hall civil service office, you will be able to meet avatar officials on the metaverse and conveniently consult with avatars.
Major tourist attractions in Seoul, such as Gwanghwamun square, Deoksugung, and Namdaemun Market, are created as 'virtual tourism special zones', and lost historical sites such as Donuimun are also reproduced in the metaverse space. In 2023, Seoul’s representative festivals, such as the Lantern Festival, will also be held as metaverses, thereby making it a global event.
They will also develop services for the socially disadvantaged, such as safety and convenience contents for the disabled people.
By applying extended reality (XR) technology, they are planning to develop and provide image, audio, and sign language content for the safety and convenience of the visually and hearing impaired people.
In addition, a metaverse-based smart work will be created where a virtual smart office can perform administrative tasks without time and space constraints.
By convergence of administrative big data possessed by Seoul Metropolitan Government, such as population, economy, and environment, with private data, they plan to provide the big data search service with the AI based technology.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has also decided to prepare usage rules and ethics and security guidelines to prevent unhealthy use and adverse functions of Metaverse and to create a safe usage environment.
Jong-su Park, Seoul Smart City Policy Director, said, “Metaverse is evolving into various forms depending on the level of technology and user demand, and in particular, it is rapidly emerging as a new paradigm after COVID-19. Seoul will pioneer a new continent called 'Metaverse Seoul' by combining public demand with private technology.”
<Metaverse Seoul Projects>
By Staff Reporter Ho Choi (snoop@etnews.com)