T map launches 'Eodigalga' service... "Data business to generate 70 billion KRW in revenue" (Comprehensive)

Press Conference for New Service 'Eodigalkka'
Personalized Location Recommendations Based on Mobility Data Learning
"Plan to Increase Revenue Share by 60% by 2027"

T map Mobility is launching a service that learns users' movement data through artificial intelligence (AI) to recommend personalized places. In the future, it plans to enhance user convenience further by applying course recommendations and interactive large language model (LLM) functions. The company also expressed its ambition to achieve sales exceeding 70 billion KRW in its data business this year based on the accumulated data from the service.

On the morning of the 23rd, at the T map Mobility press conference held in the Suprex Hall of SKT Tower, Jung-gu, Seoul, Lee Jong-ho, CEO of T map Mobility, is delivering a greeting.
Photo by Hwang Seoyul chestnut@

At a press conference held on the morning of the 23rd at the SKT Tower Suprex Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, T map Mobility announced the launch of its AI place agent service, "Eodigalga" (Where to Go). The service plans to recommend places by learning from 6.7 billion annual movement data points and eventually provide course suggestions. Lee Jong-ho, CEO of T map Mobility, stated, "By applying AI, we will advance personalized place recommendations and offer connected experiences before and after movement and place searches."

"Eodigalga" consists of six categories: Nearby & Discovery, Place Details and Reviews, Certification Badges, Recommended Search, Recommendations During Movement, and Biz Place. In the "Nearby" tab, users can receive recommendations for popular places within distances ranging from 500 meters to 10 kilometers. Exploration is also possible using filters such as time, gender, and age. The "Discovery" tab offers personalized place recommendations by region based on users' movement patterns. The user interface (UI) allows users to switch between these two tabs to explore places.

User reviews have enhanced reliability by introducing the industry's first "Driving Certified Reviews," which only users who have actually driven to the location can write. These are displayed separately within the place details from general reviews. Users can also review parking and driving experience information necessary when visiting by car. Integrated reviews from partner gourmet platforms such as Catch Table and Polle are also provided.

Certification badges are divided into two types. The Local Popular Badge automatically recommends popular restaurants frequently visited by neighborhood residents using data from users who have registered their homes. The T map Ranking Badge is awarded to the top 10 restaurants and cafes among the top 50 places selected based on the latest movement counts within the region.

The "Recommended Search" function enables keyword searches such as "Euljiro restaurants" or "Samgyeopsal restaurants" instead of specific place names. Based on the "Recommendations During Movement" service, the company plans to offer recommendations for restaurants along routes before and during travel in the future. The "Biz Place" feature allows business owners to directly manage detailed place information such as business hours, menus, and parking.

On the morning of the 23rd, Jeon Chang-geun, head of product, explained the newly launched 'Eodigalka' service at the T map Mobility press conference held at the SKT Tower Suprex Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hwang Seoyul

Jeon Chang-geun, head of product, said, "We will introduce AI-based course recommendation functions and interactive search functions based on large language models (LLM) in the future," adding, "We are collaborating with SK Telecom's 'A.Dot' team on this." A.Dot is SKT's B2C (business-to-consumer) AI assistant service. Regarding the possibility of monetizing the service, Jeon said, "There are no plans yet."

T map Mobility plans to improve profitability by growing its data business using the data accumulated through the service. It aims to achieve data business sales exceeding 70 billion KRW this year and continue growth at a rate of over 50% in sales by 2027. To this end, it will expand traffic inflow from services other than navigation, such as "Eodigalga," and nurture core data-based businesses by learning structured and unstructured information. The company also plans to enhance data such as maps, road information, and real-time traffic information provided to B2C, B2G (business-to-government), and B2B (business-to-business) sectors and expand partnerships for analysis services utilizing this data.

To advance "Eodigalga" and T map Biz Place, a marketing platform offering coupons and customer information for business owners will also be provided. The vehicle T map platform "T map Auto," currently supplied to more than 18 brands, will be enhanced by combining vehicle and T map data.

On the morning of the 23rd, at the T map Mobility press conference held in the Suprex Hall of SKT Tower in Jung-gu, Seoul, Seoha Park, in charge of D&I, is presenting the growth direction based on mobility data. Photo by Seoyul Hwang chestnut@

Park Seo-ha, head of Data & Innovation D&I at T map Mobility, said, "Because T map Auto can utilize vehicle data, there are many possibilities when combined with T map data, and there are various services combined with large screens," adding, "We are discussing these aspects with each original equipment manufacturer (OEM)." He further added, "Besides 'Eodigalga,' we may find other data values such as usage-based insurance (UBI) linked to driving habits and residual value checks when selling used cars."

Regarding T map Mobility's IPO, CEO Lee said, "We are closely consulting with major investors to proceed with specific IPO schedules, including selecting underwriters in 2025," adding, "We are building a growth-focused business portfolio in the first half of this year and expect to turn profitable within one to two years in terms of productivity." He emphasized the data business model (BM), including "Eodigalga." Lee stated, "Since SKT's spin-off, the data BM has achieved over 20% high growth until this year," and added, "We are confident that we will generate sales exceeding 70 billion KRW in data this year and increase the proportion of data sales, enabling growth in EBITDA and operating profit."

Meanwhile, regarding the situation on Chuseok day, the 17th, when drivers using the T map Mobility application experienced a five-hour traffic jam on side roads designated as detours near Asan, Chungnam, CEO Lee expressed, "We are very sorry," and said, "We are conducting a full survey of nationwide side roads to refine the algorithm and prevent recurrence." Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Jung Min-gyu said, "We are looking for scenarios to solve the root cause and have taken measures to prevent such incidents in the short term," adding, "We are improving the algorithm through internal listing and will provide a detailed explanation soon."