"Big Data Foodie Spot Hits the Mark" SKT 'T-map Misik Road' Surpasses 1 Million Cumulative Users

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] SK Telecom announced on the 17th that its navigation service T map's big data-based customized restaurant recommendation service, 'T map Gourmet Road,' surpassed 1 million uses within two months of its launch.

'T map Gourmet Road' is a service that recommends restaurants based on 1.8 billion pieces of big data accumulated over five years on T map, which is used by 18 million people annually. It was launched to provide customers with the joy of exploring restaurants by utilizing actual visit data rather than reviews or star ratings.

Analysis of users showed that the most preferred types of restaurants were 'famous restaurants' and 'restaurants frequently visited by locals.' About 27% of users chose 'famous restaurants,' and about 22% selected 'restaurants frequented by locals.' Additionally, it was found that customers mainly use the restaurant recommendation service when dining out with their partners or spouses.

Moreover, users were willing to travel over 40 km to taste local specialties such as snow crab from Yeongdeok and freshwater clams from Gurye. The restaurants with the longest average travel distances were 'Ganggu Port Snow Crab Direct Sales Center' located in Yeongdeok-gun, Gyeongbuk, and 'Seomjingang Freshwater Clam Noodles' located in Gurye-gun, Jeonnam, where customers traveled an average of more than 40 km to visit.

Looking at the top 10 restaurants with the longest average travel distances, customers traveled an average of 38 km. The top 10 restaurants mainly consisted of local specialty restaurants such as Hanwoo beef restaurants in Hoengseong, Dakgalbi chicken restaurants in Chuncheon, and dried pollack restaurants in Inje.

By gender, men used the service more than women, and by age, people in their 40s used it the most. This is presumed to be because 'T map Gourmet Road' is a navigation-based service. By business type, 40% of customers visited meat restaurants during the evening hours of 17:00 to 19:00, and 38% visited Chinese restaurants during lunchtime from 11:00 to 13:00. Cafes were evenly distributed throughout all time periods.

The company stated that the achievement of 1 million cumulative uses of 'T map Gourmet Road' is recognized as a result of recommending restaurants to customers based on reliable criteria such as the number of visits and big data in a situation where information about restaurants is overflowing, thereby enhancing customers' convenience in food culture consumption.

Song Gwanghyun, head of SK Telecom's PR2 Office, said, "'T map Gourmet Road' is expected to allow more customers to experience new experiences and enjoyment," adding, "We will continue to do our best to provide new value to customers by utilizing big data capabilities."

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