[Interview] "Developed 'Corona Map' to Prevent Misinformation... Will Continue Until It Disappears"

Screenshot of the Corona Map website.

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] "I received a proposal to create a global version, but I don't have the capacity right now. I plan to continue the service until the novel coronavirus infection (Wuhan pneumonia) is completely eradicated."

Lee Dong-hoon (27), a student in the Department of Industrial and Management Engineering at Kyung Hee University and the developer of the Corona Map website, which has been receiving intense attention for providing rapid information on the novel coronavirus, said in an interview with Asia Economy on the 5th, "I started this because there was too much fake news about the novel coronavirus." The Corona Map is a website that records the distribution and movement routes of confirmed domestic cases, and it has become a hot topic. As of 8 a.m. that day, the site had over 9 million views.

Lee said, "There were sites made in China and the United States, but they were inconvenient for Koreans to use," and explained, "(Corona Map) is a page that uses data provided by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow users to easily view it on a map."

Regarding the intense interest in the Corona Map as domestic confirmed cases increase, he responded, "There are really many people who provide reports and feedback. Many people cheer through comments, and I have received 500 emails." He added, "Based on the feedback and reports, we added a feature to check confirmed cases based on the current location, and we plan to redesign and internally structure the system to enable faster updates in the future."

Inquiries for sponsorships and advertising proposals are also flooding in. Naver is supporting the map API (Application Programming Interface), and Amazon Web Services (AWS) is covering server costs. However, Lee drew the line at advertising. He explained, "Many people have expressed their willingness to sponsor via email or Facebook, and corporate advertising proposals have also come in, but since this is for a public interest purpose, I have declined all of them."

Recently, he also received a request to create a global version. He said, "The request was to make an English version, but the English version requires separate development work," and added, "I don't have the capacity right now."

As the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases increases, Lee is also spending busy days without a moment to spare. He updates the Corona Map website six times a day starting at 10 a.m. every day. When breaking news about confirmed cases comes out, he has to update the information. Lee explained, "Although there is an automated system, the 'raw data' is unstructured, so it requires collection and filtering work," and added, "Coordinates are found on Google Maps and entered manually." Although it is uncertain when, he expressed strong determination, saying, "I will continue the service until the novel coronavirus disappears and the number of confirmed cases reaches zero."

Currently, Lee has founded a startup called 'Modak' with his friends and is operating a service that diagnoses hair loss using artificial intelligence (AI). Regarding his future career, Lee said, "I think I will continue to focus on developing ideas or things that come to mind, just like now."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.