"Walk in the Shade": App Guide for Pedestrians Seeking Relief from Heat

[Anchor]

Amid the heat wave, an app that finds and guides users along shady routes has recently gained popularity as citizens look for ways to escape the scorching weather. It was developed in just two weeks by a college student in their 20s using public data.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the story.

[Reporter]

On a street in Seoul yesterday (the 5th), when a serious heat wave warning was in effect.

Even during the brief moments waiting for a traffic light, citizens seek out shade.

[Song Eun-ja / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: Just stepping into the shade makes a difference. Entering the shade reduces that intense, beating heat.]

With the relentless heat wave continuing, an app has even emerged that guides people primarily along shaded paths.

Based on factors such as the sun's altitude, surrounding buildings, and the size of street trees, it calculates the location of shade in real time to suggest routes that avoid direct sunlight.

Users can also find out which side of a bus to sit on to avoid the sun, or where the weakly air-conditioned subway cars are located.

I am now at Mokdong Station. I am going to try walking to our office following the route recommended by the shade app.

Although there is a difference of about two minutes compared to the shortest route, the amount of shade is about 20% more.

It felt like I walked a bit more than usual, but there was definitely more shade, making it bearable to walk.

The developer, who created the app in just two weeks using public data, is a student in the Class of '23 at Seoul National University's Department of Mathematics Education.

[Yoo Min-jun / Developer of 'Geuneullo': My school is in Seoul, but since my home is in Gyeonggi Province, commuting takes a tremendous amount of time... I thought of people commuting like me, or people who commute a lot by bus...]

Spreading by word of mouth through social media, 20,000 people signed up just yesterday alone.

[Yoo Min-jun / Developer of 'Geuneullo': One review that stood out to me was from someone saying their father always felt heartbroken seeing their pet dog drenched in sweat when taking it out, so they were so glad this app was created.]

A young person's idea is serving as a shade canopy helping people endure daily life amid the scorching heat.

(Camera reporting: Lee Byung-joo, Yang Ji-hoon; Video editing: Shin Se-eun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.