"Living in Gyeonggi, Sweating Bullets"... SNU Student-Made App Gains Popularity

[Anchor]

On scorching days like these, people instinctively look for shade, even if it means walking just a few extra meters. Understanding this struggle, a map app has emerged that guides users along shady paths.

Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the story.

[Reporter]

This afternoon (August 5), on a street in Seoul where a heavy heat wave warning is in effect.

Even during the brief moment waiting for a traffic light, citizens seek out patches of shade.

[Song Eun-ja / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul]: Just stepping into the shade makes a difference. Being in the shade reduces the intense heat beating down on you.

Amid the ongoing heat wave, an app has appeared that guides users primarily through shaded routes.

Based on 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 currently out at Mokdong Station.

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

It takes about 2 minutes longer than the shortest route, but the amount of shade was about 20 percent more.

It felt like I walked a bit more than usual, but it was definitely more bearable because there was quite a bit more shade.

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

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

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

[Yu Min-jun / Developer of Geuneullo]: One review that left an impression was from someone saying, "My father always takes our pet dog out and it broke my heart to see him drenched in sweat, so I'm so glad an app like this was created."

A young person's idea is serving as a shade canopy helping people endure everyday life in the midst of the heat wave.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Video by Lee Byeong-joo, Yang Jihoon | Video Editing by Seeun Shin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.