According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 200 privately owned taxis have since June replaced their rooftop signs with LCD screens on which a stream of ads were displayed. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – Besides advertisements, rooftop signs on taxis in the South Korean city of Daejeon will display location-sensitive missing person notices.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 200 privately owned taxis have since June replaced their rooftop signs with LCD screens on which a stream of ads were displayed. The rooftop screen advertising is being trialed by the Daejeon city government.
When a missing person report is filed, the information submitted is fed into a central operating system and displayed on the LCD screens of taxis that are near the location where the missing person was last spotted. The entire process takes only two to three minutes.
Besides advertisements, rooftop signs on taxis in the South Korean city of Daejeon will display location-sensitive missing person notices. (Image: Ministry of Interior and Safety)
The operating system relies on LTE and GPS technology, and the ministry has pointed out that it is the first of its kind.
Taxis in the United States or the U.K. display ads on their rooftop signs, but the displayed content works like slideshows on repeat rather than an endless stream of new ads like the Daejeon taxis.
U.S. taxi signs in Las Vegas and New York (Image: Yonhap)
Going forward, the LCD screens are expected to be used to display a wide range of public service notices, from anti-smoking messages to traffic updates.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
