After the enormous impulse that the metaverse term Since Facebook's parent company changed its name to Meta, the intentions of thousands of companies to form their own metaverses have grown. And now it is not just about companies, because the South Korean city of Seoul wants all its basic services to be managed from its own metaverse.
This would make schools, citizen services, concerts, and tourist elements such as museums or tours of Seoul have a presence in a personal metaverse. Ideally, you can manage everything in the same virtual world without having to navigate between applications or websites. This plan was announced by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon at a conference in October, formalized in the metaverse he wants to build.
The official metaverse of the city of Seoul
In the “Seoul Metaverse,” residents are expected to be able to make reservations at municipal facilities, ride tour buses, visit recreations of destroyed historical sites, file administrative complaints with city bureaucrats, and more. Cultural heritage sites across the city can be visited by accessing the metaverse on their mobile phones.
The Seoul metaverse begins on New Year's Eve, when the traditional Bosingak Chimes ceremony is also held on the platform for all residents who want to participate virtually. Seoul's metaverse plan is intended to be completed by 2026 and could be rolled out in phases starting next year. It would first be available on smartphones and they hope it will be compatible with augmented reality tools, such as glasses and controllers.
Starting in 2023, Seoul's major cultural festivals will also be held in the metaverse and will be open to virtual tourists from abroad, according to authorities. This metaverse plans to show that the city continues to be a technological benchmark.
Source: Seattle Times
