Naver Pay launches VR real estate tour service

Naver Pay opened a service enabling users to tour listed properties in virtual reality utilizing Naver's digital twin technology.

Poster promoting Naver Pay's new VR service for real estate [NAVER PAY]

Naver Pay opened a service on Tuesday that enables users to tour real estate properties in virtual reality (VR) utilizing Naver’s digital twin technology.

With the service, users can freely navigate the streets and complex interiors virtually and acquire information that was difficult to get unless a physical visited was paid to the site.

Information such as sunlight exposure depending on the season and time of the day, detailed measurements of interior spaces, the height of apartment buildings and texture of exterior walls are made available utilizing Naver’s proprietary digital twin technology known as “Alike.”

Naver Pay's new real estate service enables users to virtually tour listed properties. [NAVER PAY]

Developed by the internet giant's research and development subsidiary on future technology, Alike is a solution that fuses various mapping devices from drones and 360-degree cameras, AI technology that reconstructs images from 2-D to 3-D and stable cloud processing that allows the efficient virtual realization of spaces.

It is the same technology that Naver is currently using for its digital twin platform project in Saudi Arabia.

The service is potentially expandable to include simulations for furniture placement, according to the company.

Currently, 50 properties at various apartment complexes around the capital area are available for VR tour. Naver Pay aims to expand the number to an average of 1,000 new property registrations monthly.

Complexes updated with the VR service can be found on Naver Pay’s real estate tab, and can be viewed both on mobile and desktop.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]