The Traveler IQ Game

From A Geek In Korea I found this (soon to be incorporated into my geography lessons) game.

Mokpo Medicine

A personal note: I have contradicted a virus. Or maybe a bacterial infection. Or maybe just a normal killer cold transmitted to me by one of my students. In either case something is making me fells sick enough to not go to school, skip out on the eco-gooken oil clean up this weekend, and (the scariest part) to go to the doctor.

Now, it's not that I'm scared of going to the doctor, I'm just not that confident with the language to ensure that I get proper medical attention. I mean let's transfer the hilarity that one has with trying to get a hair cut into trying to get medical care. In which situation can you walk away from "I didn't want that cut off" and well, actually walk away?

Galbijim has a nice post about what to do when sick and even a page for Hospitals with English speaking staff. Lucky enough Mokpo has at least one English speaking doctor: 김건형 (aka Kim Kan Hyan) at the 21세기하나내과 (aka 21 Century Hana Medical Clinic). He's not completely fluent but we managed to talk about me and my symptoms without the need of an interpreter, something that generates so much material for sitcoms:

No one here could speak much English (the doctor knew some words), so the process of getting me prepped for deeper observation was a challenge. They had to get at my hip, so I was told to undo my pants. Makes sense, but in my mind, that meant take them right off. So that's what I did, right there in front of the nurse, who gave a good loud scream and ran into the back room. I had underwear on, but it didn't seem to be enough to calm her down, so I wrapped a towel around myself, shouted some "I'm sorry"s over the curtain, and got back down on the table.

Even though my students tell me it is a hospital, the part where I went to, on the second floor, was really a walk-in clinic. I managed to get Kim Kan Hyan by asking "English Doctor?" to the receptionist and the subsequent service was relatively quick. I received the required shot in the bum, eye drops, and an individually wrapped cocktail of pills from the pharmacy on the first level. I have five pills in my cocktail to be taken three time a day and that looks to be on par with the national average:

The average number of pills prescribed to those with colds in Korea was 4.73, compared to 1.61 for the US, 2.58 for the UK, and 2.2 for Japan. People under 18 in Korea were given an average of 4.56 pills per prescription, compared to 1.64 for the US, 1.77 in Switzerland, and 1.85 in Germany.

Mokpo's Novelty Plane

It's been well documented that I'm a map nerd. When I first got to Mokpo I immediately set about using Google's Satelitte photos to compensate for the touristy map that I was given:

View Larger Map
Thanks to great Korean Internet Controversy I took the effort to learn some Korean (via my language tools) and I've managed to move away from my Google maps and fully embrace Naver maps. But Graham over The Scroll of Bifurcating Considerations has found what I thought was too nerdy to talk about: The Novelty Plane. While it's old news to me (Google maps tells me that I found it June 2nd), Graham goes for gold with his analysis:

These measurements put it WELL within the realm of a normal jet airliner. The length is consistent with the larger models of the Boeing 767, as is the fuselage. What I haven't been able to match to my liking is the wingspan; 134ft for a 201ft long plane is a bit short. That gives this a wing:length ratio of about 2/3 (.0667). Most jet airliners I looked at have a ratio closer to .8333. So, the mystery lives on. What jet has these specifications? and more importantly, why is it perched on top of a building?

Train Stations of Korea

Flickr's jsj6169 has started collecting photos of various trains stations around Korea, including a slightly outdated snapshot of Mokpo's own yeok. Interestingly enough enough the photos gives the day of May 15, 1913. I'm guessing that's the initial founding date and not the date of the photograph.

Interestingly enough jsj6169 also gives the name and street address of the station in Hangul; this could be useful when using Naver's local or map sites.

Naver Local

In a previous post I talked about Korea's apparent isolationism in the online mapping community. For some reason Google or Yahoo provide map data for everybody but Korea and we're are stuck with the homegrown alternatives: Congnamul & Naver.

At first I was all about Congnamul. It looked prettier and had important things, like Starbucks, already iconified on the map. From a consumerist tourist's point of view it's incredible helpful; however after trying to deal with Mokpo specifics I'm starting to swing back towards Naver, largely thanks to Naver Local.

The Paradigm Shift

I automatically plug in street addresses for any mapping systems but, here in Korea, only the losers in the post office use street addresses; real Mokponians remember locations by their names. In fact the whole notion of street address is still a fairly fresh idea in this relatively small city;. Luckily the folks at Naver handle both. Take, for example again, everybody's favorite high school where we can use:

1. 전남제일고등학교
2. 전라남도 목포시 용당동 937-1 번지

as the map's input. Both will get you this map but the location name will snag you the bonus of an entry in the Naver Local directory (which usually includes the phone number, embedded map, and other tidbits of useful information). Before I favoured Congnamul over Naver because Congnamul allowed you to link to maps but Naver Local's information is linkable and completely surpasses that of Congnamul.

Channy Yun Revisited

This too was previously mentioned, but I'm digging his magic enough to post about it again: Channy Yun is the guy who did the Naver & Google Map Mashup that gives you the Naver street map on top of the Google satellite view. I used this for my school maps and it really helped. The only problem to the site is that lacks any of Naver's search functionality. I had to scroll around, zoom in, and find the school myself.

I can make up for the Mashup's short comings by taking advantage of the its usage of Naver's coordinate system. Using the example of 에베레스트 (our favorite Nepalese restaurant in Seoul) we first find the Naver Local entry and get the Naver Map map url:

http://maps.naver.com/? x=31296500 & y=55271800 & title=Everest

We cull the X & Y parameters from the url (removing, for some reason, the last two digits) and create our own Mashup link.

http://map.creation.net/getMap? x=312965 & y=552718 & title=Everest & z=2

Giving us the all of the business information, maps, and satellite imagery that complete strangers would need to find the restaurant.

Wikimapia's Mokpo

Similar to Flickr's Memory Maps, Wikimapia is a online collaboration that pinpoints locations on Google's Satellite Images and, funny enough, it has an entry for Mokpo.

As previously posted there is no perfect mapping system for the Google Generation in Mokpo. Wikimapia uses Google's outdated satellite images that still hide a quarter of Mokpo under clouds or low resolution images. But the genius comes in the collaboration and completely replaces my own private endeavor albeit without the nice Google icons and whatnot.

More information on Wikimapia is available via the Wikimapia Blog, Matt's Wikimapia Blog and (as always) Wikipedia.

The Abandoned School

Almost every patch of free soil in Mokpo is converted into a make-shift garden so it's very surprising to find a school that has been closed and left to deteriorate for a good number of years. This school is known to the local foreigners as the abandoned school.

From what I've gathered, the abandoned school was built during the Japanese occupation of Korea and was Japanese exclusive. After the war it was changed to Mokpo Jeil Girls High School (목포 제일 여자 고등 학교 aka Mokpo Jeil Yeoja Godeung Hakkyo), but eventually the school moved over into its current location in Ha-dang and no one has been back since.

The closest land mark is the Mount Yudal Post Office (유달우체국 aka Yudal San Ucheguk) and is useful for unconfusing taxi drivers who insist on taking you to Ha-dang.

The Mokpo School Map

The Mokpo Office of Education website has a list of schools, complete with listings of the elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in Mokpo, and more importantly a map dotting their locations. Of course if you haven't master Hangul, these list may be more scary than useful. So what can we do?

The data that we need is all there, and we just need to convert it into a useful format. For example, if we translate the elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools lists via Google's nifty translation button, we get a better understanding of what exactly is being displayed. But since we have more tools at our disposal, we can go further; if we romanize the data via kawa.net, translate some of the common words, and map the street addresseses, we get ourselves a quick reference table, listing locations of each school in Mokpo, complete with clickable map link.

Elementary Schools
Mokpo Bukgyo Elementary School	bukgyo-dong 1
Mokpo Sanjeong Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 34
Mokpo Seobu Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 1061-2
Mokpo Jungang Elementary School	honam-dong 463
Mokpo Yudal Elementary School	yudal-dong 8
Mokpo Yudal Elementary School Dalli Island Branch	chungmu-dong 301
Mokpo Yudal Elementary School Yuldo Branch	chungmu-dong 161-1
Mokpo Dong Elementary School	sanjeong3-dong 270-1
Mokpo Iro Elementary School	yonghae-dong 240-2
Mokpo Nam Elementary School	honam-dong 567
Mokpo Seosan Elementary School	seosan-dong 22
Mokpo Seosan Elementary School Chungmu Branch	chungmu-dong 38
Mokpo Daeseong Elementary School	daeseong-dong 212
Mokpo Yongho Elementary School	yongdang2-dong 1028-7
Mokpo Samhag Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 1367
Mokpo Yeondong Elementary School	sanjeong-dong 1080-4
Mokpo Imseong Elementary School	seoghyeon-dong 96-1
Mokpo Daeyeon Elementary School	yonghae-dong 631
Mokpo Ognam Elementary School	ogam-dong 236
Mokpo Sangdong Elementary School	sang-dong 364
Mokpo Buyeong Elementary School	ogam-dong 1024
Mokpo Hadang Elementary School	sang-dong 820
Mokpo Yeonsan Elementary School	yeonsan-dong 1270
Mokpo Sinheung Elementary School	sang-dong 1017
Mokpo Ceongho Elementary School	ogam-dong 966
Mokpo Hanbic Elementary School	sang-dong 887
Mokpo Mihang Elementary School	ogam-dong 1102
Mokpo Seohae Elementary School	yeonsan-dong 1271
Mokpo Yonghae Elementary School	yonghae-dong 974
Mokpo Seoghyeon Elementary School	seoghyeon-dong 1172
Mokpo Hangdo Elementary School	sang-dong 264
Mokpo Aehyang Elementary School	ogam-dong 56-1
Gwangju Teachers College's Mokpo Buseor Elementary School	yonghae-dong 289
Middle Schools
Mokpo Jeil Middle School	yonghae-dong 170-5
Mokpo Yudal Middle School	sanjeong-dong 2-10
Mokpo Ceongho Middle School	yongdang1-dong 970-23
Mokpo Girls Middle School	gyeong-dong, 2ga 2
Mokpo Jungan Girls Middle School	sang-dong 899
Mokpo Hangdo Girls Middle School	sang-dong 327
Mokpo Hadang Middle School	ogam-dong 963
Mokpo Ogam Middle School	ogam-dong 1282
Muntae Middle School	yongdang-dong 183
Hongil Middle School	juggyo-dong 575-1
Yeongheung Middle School	sang-dong 55
Deogin Middle School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Jeongmyeong Middle School	yang-dong 86
Mokpo Hyein Girls Middle School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Yeonghwa Middle School	sang-dong 525
High Schools Schools
Mokpo High School	yongdang1-dong 970-6
Mokpo Girls High School	daeseong-dong 40-1
Mokpo Jeil Girls High School	ogam-dong 983
Jeonnam Jeil High School	yongdang1-dong 937-1
Mokpo Gongeob High School	yongdang2-dong 171-11
Muntae High School	yongdang-dong 383
Mokpo Hongil High School	juggyo-dong 575-1
Yeongheung High School	sang-dong 55
Mokpo Deogin High School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Mariahoe High School	yongdang-dong 845
Mokpo Jeongmyeong Girls High School	yang-dong 86
Mokpo Hyein Girls High School	juggyo-dong 30
Mokpo Girls Sangeob High School	sang-dong 525
Mokpo Seongsin High School	sang-dong 328
Mokpo Jungang High School	daeyang-dong 208

Some notes on the directory:

• There are 53 dots on the map with 63 schools listed.
• Not all school street address resolved in a map link.
• There is some disagreement with the Romanization output of kawa.net.
  
• Some schools (especialy the Branch schools) are located outside of mainland Mokpo.
• Just from experience, I suspect that not all data (i.e. names of schools or streets) is up to date.
  

Korean Maps

The Mokpo Maps post dealt with the local Mokpo area and its culmination of all geographical knowledge, the tourist map. But there's another level beyond the cartoon amusement park guide to Mokpo and that level is on the Internet.

English Korean Maps

The main players in North America tend to ignore South Korea and treat it like a separate entity. Consider the difference between yahoo.com and yahoo.co.kr and the incompatibilities between the two sites that share the same name. I can't find a solid answer why there is a split, just some unanswered questions and tiny hints in blogs and newsgroups. SundoSoft, Congnamul and Cybermap are the main map data companies in South Korea (for the curious: yahoo.co.kr gets its data from Congnamul while SundoSoft's data is used by Naver.com) and there appears to be some problem integrating their data into the North American systems.

While we wait for global map unification (or the Korean map upgrade), computer geeks are working on their own solutions. And by solutions I mean experiments that are part of a larger geekness, the map mashup; a quick search gives us these two examples:

1. Naver Map Overlay Google Earth via network link
   
2. Congnamul map overlay on Google earth
   

And there's stuff like what this guy is doing that results in a Naver's road map mashed-up with a Google satellite view. Using it on a certain high school we get this map and it's closer to what we want, but there's one problem: there's no English.

Korean Korean Maps

Now, if you're willing to give up the crutch of English and use what the Koreans use, then there's an better alternative to the experimental sites. The Korean front runners are Naver and Congnamul but there's also Cyworld, Maptopia (that keeps on trying to install a plug-in every time I visit it) and the slightly biased map system at Tour2Korea. Both Naver and Congnamul provide most of the same functionality as Google but they're made by Koreans, for Koreans which means you'll have to learn Korean or fumble some use out of them.

Take the Naver map system; at first click, it'll detect your Internet provider and place you in a close enough location. The only search box should be in the top left and you can feed it one of two things:

1. Korean Trade Name
   
2. Korean Street Address

Both must be in Hangul. So, for example, when trying to find the location of our favorite high school those two options translate into:

1. 전남제일고등학교
2. 전라남도 목포시 용당동 937-1 번지

It's the same concept over at Congnamul and comparing the two is like comparing Google and Mapquest. Naver is fairly vanilla compared to Congnamul that seems to have a lot more features, but is Seoul Tourist Centric (including a online bus guide in various languages too). Those features are cool but, when living in Mokpo, useless. There's one feature that tips the hat in Congnamul's favour and that's the ability to share maps.

Sharing Korean Maps

Let's say I found this really great restaurant in Seoul, but it's hidden off of the side streets and all you have is a smudged cross on a napkin. If you're not careful you'll end up wandering around until you find the courage and mime gestures to ask where is this place. And if you're lucky you'll only have to mime once.

How would that scenario work with the map systems? From the restaurant's website you know the street address is:

서올시 종로구 창신동 148-1

So you plug that into both and find out that Naver refuses to budge. But Congnamul saves the day suggest a different spelling:

서울 종로구 창신동 148-1

With the correction, both sites show me the proper location and both render my napkin somewhat obsolete with their quick print options. But what about mailing this map to our friends? That involves something different; something called the the link to map function.

The Link To Map function

Link to Map translates what ever you are viewing on your screen into a url that can be easily shared amongst friends. And sadly enough Naver does not support this function and I do not understand why. This features is a staple of any North American web map. Sharing a map via url is important since it:

1. Stops the abuse of large image attachment in e-mails.
2. Allows maps to be shared over non e-mail Internet communication, like instant messaging forum postings, etc.
   
3. Provides a more robust map than those little maps on the back of the business cards.

Congnamul understands this and provides that functionality via the URL링크 (URL Link) button in the bottom toolbar, unfortunately it's not that intuitive. Here are the steps:

1. You enter your address and click the 검색 (Search) button.
2. Congnamul finds your spot and marks it with a big red arrow.
3. Click on the URL링크 (URL Link) button.
4. Congnamul launches a pop-up saying something to the effect of "Please click anywhere on the map."
5. Dismiss the pop-up and move the click somewhere near your arrow. Note: If you're to close to the arrow the mouse cursor will be an arrow and won't register the location; start moving the cursor away until it turns into the hand, and then click.
6. Congnamul launches a pop-up displaying the url link.
   

Now our restaurant address becomes clickable.

Nerd Stuff

All map systems create their maps dynamically via various a arguments into a function. Congnamul's URL링크 function from above is quite straight forward and has two arguments:

http://www.congnamul.com/urlLink.jsp?x=502582&y=1130633

and if you really want to play around here's an url from Congnamul's mailing a map function; it has more parameters to tweak and is only presented for the super keen.

Mokpo Maps

Maps are super neat if you're new to a country and you can't speak the language. And by super neat, I mean bloody essential.

Google, Yahoo, Mapquest are the first places I normally use but a search on those sites tells us that Mokpo has yet to acquire the concept of roads; even Tour2Korea doesn't list Mokpo with the other city maps. Alternatively, there are the satellite views, a mix of snap shots between 2003 and 2007, or the GPS systems that you'll sometimes find in taxi cabs, but so far the closest thing there that a foreigner can use is the little tourist pamphlet (published by Beetle Maps and scanned by Brent) that most of us got in our welcome to Mokpo package. Additional pamphlets can be found free of charge at any of the tourist information kiosks peppered throughout the city.

But that's not quite the end of it. Of course Brent's map is great, but it's slightly Brent specific. For the rest of us, the map is now officially online and updated and (apart from the fact that if you know enough Korean it's also interactive) is completely printable with either Korean, English, or even with no labels.

전남 제일 고등학교

The Jeonnam Jeil High School, (formerly known as Mokpo Commercial High School) has a mailing address:

Jeonnam Jeil Godeung Hakkyo
937-1 Yongdang-Dong, Mokpo-Si, Jeollanam-Do
530-360
Republic of Korea

as well as a more traditional mailing address:

530-360
전라남도 목포시 용당동 937-1 번지
전남제일고등학교

with the following phone numbers:

Fax (팩스)	061-277-7088
Administrative (행정실)	061-278-5121
School Affairs (교무실)	061-277-7082, 7083
Principal's Office (교장실)	061-277-7081

and a map/satellite view.

Of course it is also blessed with a small corner of the Internet at jeonnamjeil.hs.kr that also hoasts the school's photo album and (more importantly) lunch menu.