The Municipal Administration of the capital of South Korea enters the Metaverse with “Metaverse 120 Center”: certificates and online services will be requested to Avatar officials
While in Italy we celebrate the possibility of downloading certificates from the Internet for free and without paying stamp duty, from South Korea comes news that already makes us look old-fashioned: the city government of Seoul has in fact announced that in 2023 it will open its “Metaverse 120 Center”, i.e. its virtual public space in 3D through which it will be possible to contact the municipal administration.
With this move the metropolitan government of Seoul becomes the first local government in Korea (and probably the first Public Body in the world) to create its own presence in the Metaverse, within which it will offer information and services to its citizens. At the same time, the Administration itself announces the arrival of services in the Metaverse aimed at tourists and non-residents, students and culture lovers. All within a very precise and not at all vague program, which will be launched in three phases starting next year. And, even, with a pilot event that will be staged as early as the end of 2021 at the Bell Pavilion in Bosingak.
Seoul: put the URP in the Metaverse
One of the goals of “Metaverse 120 Center” (but the Seoul government warns that the name could change), is the presence within the Metaverse of all areas of the municipal administration: from economic to cultural, tourist, educational and even Civil Service.
This means, in practice, that users will be able to access a virtual counter where they will find real employees of the Municipality, obviously in the form of 3D avatars, with the real opening of “Metaverse 120 Center”: a well-structured virtual public service center, exactly as the various branches of a modern Municipal Administration are.
Public officials will be present in the Metaverse through avatars, in order to provide public services in virtual space without forcing users to physically go to the offices of the municipality.
Tourism in the Metaverse
The second major new feature concerns tourism: Seoul’s main tourist attractions, such as Gwanghwamun Plaza, Deoksugung Palace and Namdaemun Market, will be reproduced in the Metaverse through the “Virtual Tourist Zone”, while lost historical wonders, such as Donuimun Gate, will be recreated in virtual space.
From 2023, Seoul’s major festivals, such as the Seoul Lantern Festival, will also be held in the metaverse and can be visited remotely by people from all over the world. Not to be underestimated, then, is the fact that these events and attractions will also be within the reach of people with physical disabilities, who normally could not travel to Seoul except with enormous difficulty.