Naver Map, increase in foreign users
Multilingual service DAU monthly average 26%↑
“Useful when traveling in Korea” received rave reviews on social media
The photo is not related to the article. Photo = Getty Image Bank Naver Maps, which has expanded the range of language support, is drawing positive responses from foreign users. As the number of tourists visiting Korea is increasing, the challenge for Naver is to attract as many foreign users as possible.
According to the industry on the 16th, Naver recently expanded the scope of multilingual support (English, Chinese, and Japanese) so that foreigners can use the same level of location information as Korean-speaking users. Naver is the only domestic map service that supports four languages, including Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese.
Multilingual translation functionality is supported through visitor reviews and place filters. It can be used through language settings within the Naver Map application (app). Foreign users can also view reviews registered in Korean, creating conditions for in-depth exploration of domestic information.
The multilingual translation function was applied early on to company name, address, industry, and detailed page information. Naver Maps introduced multilingual services in 2018. You can conveniently move around with the latest location and traffic information, as well as various types of route finding functions such as walking, public transportation, and navigation.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the Naver Map app was selected as the service with which foreigners were most satisfied in a survey of major travel app trends and usage status. Google Maps is usually used the most when traveling abroad, but in Korea, Naver Maps has increased awareness as an app that can replace Google Maps.
As service satisfaction increased with multilingual support, the number of users also increased. As of last month, the average monthly number of daily active users (DAU) using Naver Maps in foreign languages increased by 26.4% compared to the same month last year.
Naver Maps multilingual support service. Photo = Provided by Naver A foreign travel YouTuber with over 30,000 subscribers chose Naver Maps as the first app he downloaded when visiting Korea. He explained, “It was very useful while traveling because I could save the place I wanted to go to in advance through Naver Maps and check it right away without having to search each time I moved.”
One foreign blogger also said, “Naver Maps is the app I use the most while traveling in Korea because I can easily check it in English when I need to plan my route, check accurate arrival information, or wonder about costs.”
There are quite a few responses from foreigners who say they used Naver Maps on other social networking services (SNS), such as TikTok. On Reddit, an American social networking service (SNS), there are also reviews such as “Naver Map is convenient because you can collect photo reviews from actual visitors.”
A Naver official said, “We provide more specific and vivid information about the place selected by the user based on various review contents such as text reviews, photo and video reviews, and keyword reviews accumulated in My Place.” He added, “This accumulated review data is used by overseas travelers. “It is being used as a valuable reference for people and is establishing itself as essential travel information,” he said.
He said, “We plan to continue to strengthen Naver Maps’ multilingual support and functions so that foreign users can travel more conveniently in Korea.”
Considering that the number of foreigners visiting Korea is increasing as we enter the pandemic, it is expected that the number of users of Naver Map’s multilingual service will increase further in the future.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists visiting Korea in August this year was 1,563,221, an increase of 474,088 from the same month last year.
Seung-rak Choi, the leader in charge of Naver’s map service, said, “(With multilingual support), most of the information needed during the location search process has been provided to foreign users in a complete manner. We plan to continue to enhance the service by closely examining the needs of foreign users.” said.
Kim Dae-young, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]
