Seoul Boom is a side project for people visiting Seoul. The city publishes live crowd data for its busiest places, but only in Korean and only as raw API responses. The app turns that into one line a traveler can act on: go now, or go later.
What it does
- Live crowd levels for 18 spots travelers actually visit, from palaces and markets to Hangang parks.
- A 12-hour forecast on every place, so a busy spot still tells you when it clears up.
- Map and day planner. Pick a few places and the planner orders them around the crowds and opening hours.
- Rain and fine dust aware. On bad-air or rainy days it surfaces indoor places first.
- Getting there. Nearest station exit, bike stations, and a Naver Map route in one tap.
- Korean phrases for transit, food, and emergencies, with audio and a show-it-big mode.
Built as a real app
The web app is wrapped with Capacitor for iPhone, then given native value on top: Home and Lock Screen widgets, and a push alert when a place you are watching gets quiet, which also reaches Apple Watch. The server normalizes the city API into English, caches it, and checks watched places every 10 minutes.
Boomchi
The mascot, Boomchi, is a clay haechi wearing a Sungnyemun roof as a hat. Its face changes with the crowd level, and it shows up in loading, error, and empty states and on the notification image. Each place has its own clay icon in the same style.
