QR Codes At Seoul Bus Stops

It wasn't too long ago that I learnt a new word ( OK - it's not the first time I've admitted I'm a techie dinosaur) and now I read that the Seoul Metropolitan Government has introduced QR Codes at  its bus stops in Seoul City. Very  impressive.

Real-time information for bus routes now available at the fingertips of Smartphone owners in Seoul

Quick Response Codes, i.e. two-dimensional matrix barcodes, were developed by a subsidiary of Toyota called Denso-Wave way back in 1994. QR codes, now commonplace in Japan, are quickly becoming part of the arsenal of marketing managers who want their clients' business cards,  advertisements and billboards to talk directly to their customers' mobile phones.

QR code on the right side of the conventional bar code - snapped at a  Japanese supermarket

So with the QR Code reader application in your mobile phone, all you need to do is to snap a photo of the QR code at a bus-stop in Gangnam, for instance, and all the relevant information pertaining to the bus services that ply that route will be instantly available on your smartphone. No  more painstaking keying in or noting down the bus schedules.

That's good news for Smartphone owners who are living or working in or simply visiting Seoul.  The application is available in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese ( both in the simplified versions for those from the PRC and the traditional script for the Taiwanese).

Remind me to buy a smartphone before I make my next visit to Seoul.

sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=257573
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid
http://searchengineland.com/what-is-a-qr-code-and-why-do-you-need-one-27588