Korea has some of the fastest internet in the world and biggest tech companies to boot, but that doesn't mean it's without a frustrating internet experience. Legislation about internet security is decades old and restricts domestic websites to using Internet Explorer era security protocols which leads to major headaches creating accounts and signing in/out of websites/apps. YouTube requires an age check for some videos and porn sites are all blocked. The biggest hiccup for riders is the restrictions placed on Google Maps for its use of "the Sea of Japan" instead of the preferred "East Sea", debate over the pixelation of military outposts, and a splash of protectionism for the local competition. Google Maps still works, but you'll find it's:
Outdated- many roads re-routed or newly constructed and not shown
Neutered- many of the most useful tools (navigation, route-plotting, downloading maps) are disabled
Not that we don't use Google Maps here, it just needs to be paired with a secondary mapping app to get the missing functionality. And that other map is the biggest domestic challenger, Kakao Maps. Now, the website is all in Korean, but the road numbers are clear and you can easily distinguish the different types of roads (roads with a shield are a no-no for bikes). The street-view and satellite view are much more current than Google is. It is all in Korean, but the app is not. Hooray! You can go into the settings and change it to motorcycle mode and then the navigation will try to route you away from no-go roads (I say "try" because it's not 100% effective).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.daum.android.map
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kakaomap-korea-no-1-map/id304608425?mt=8
For offline mapping, I recommend maps.me as it allows you to download the full map using Open Source maps. If you've created a kml/kmz file you can open it to view all of your bookmarks and maps anytime anywhere without having an internet connection.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme.maps.pro&referrer=mt_click_id%3Dmt-ylr8m0-1559215449-2373527274
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id510623322
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