Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Traffic app to show congestion in Seoul
By Kim Rahn
Drivers will be able to find less congested routes in Seoul through a smartphone app developed by the city government.
The city government said Sunday it has developed the app, named “Seoul’s Fast Ways,” to provide people with road situations in real time.
Android users can download the free app from Android Market from Monday, while iPhone users will be able to obtain it from App Store later this week.
“The app follows the recent completion of a traffic information system, which shows the traffic flow of Seoul’s major roads,” a city official said.
Information for the downtown area, roads around Mt. Nam and expressways in the capital will be available, with more roads to be added by the end of next year.
The app will show the average speed of cars on the roads and video clips recorded through surveillance cameras, as well as congestion on nearby roads where drivers can make a detour.
To help drivers grasp the road situations quickly, congestion levels will be displayed in different colors, with green roads representing good, yellow for a little congested and red for jammed.
The information is updated between one and five minutes, while road closure due to accidents, events or construction will be posted immediately.