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.

Mokpo Foreigner's Basketball Court

Just across the street from the Mokpo Bus Station there is a decent half court in the middle of a fairly decent city park. The park is fairly new (the satelittle photos still show it's former glory as a dirt patch) and is one of the best location for basketball and completely foregin idea of street hockey.

Pizza in Mokpo

Pizza is slightly different here. It's still edible but Korea has taken the traditional American dish and added its own signature flavors:

And yes, Mokpo has a Pizza Hut; it's scaringly international. Even though some may see it a small reminder of food back home I (and others) continue to see Pizza Hut as nothing less then everything that is wrong with America.

Fortunately there's tons of competition around Mokpo in both the franchise and mom & pop pizza shops. The Internet provides some informative reviews along with a lot of blog entries but so far my favorite is 시장피자 (aka Sijang Pizza). It is a chain but it's got a few things going for it:

1. It's run by a mom and pop.
2. Mom and pop make pretty good vegetarian pizza.
3. It's within walking distance from my apartment.

Escape Mokpo by Boat

The Mokpo Ferry Terminal (목포여객터미널 aka Mokpo Yeogaek Terminal) is the only exit point for escaping Mokpo by boat.

The terminal itself is a multi-building complex and the important buildings to remember are the domestic terminal (previously used for Oedaldo and other local adventures) and the international terminal. All taxis usually recognize a foreigner asking "Yo-gek-sun" as a request for the domestic terminal; you can specify the international terminal by saying 목포국제여객터미널 (aka Mokpo Gukjae Yeogaek Terminal).

The domestic terminal connects Mokpo to a range of Korean islands; practically all of the tourist sites suggest that you depart via Mokpo for the southern islands.Tour2Korea has a nice summary of these destinations, although it tends to focus on the more popular destinaton, like Jejudo & Hongdo, and ignore Mokpo's local islands. The most complete information, in Korean is listed on the terminal's official page, organised by the companies that operate the routes.

Mokpo is also one of South Korea's international terminals, connecting (it seems) to Shanghai via the Korea-China Bridge.

Lesson 09 - Paralanguage

Lesson 09 - Paralanguage is published over at waygook.org.