[The Chosun Ilbo, January 17 2008] Koreans Take Building Applications Online

The unprecedented development of the Internet and growth of electronic commerce are now prompting people to go online to take care of building plans. The automation of the building control system reportedly allows for a faster approval procedure.

Fewer visits, less paper, and just a click away: this is the gist of the latest invention by tech-savvy Koreans that provides a single-window online solution to the usual delays that plague the building approval process.

It's called the electronic Architecture Information System or e-AIS for short. It's a four-year work-in-progress that Seoul's Construction and Transportation Ministry flipped the switch on late last year.

Already some 80 percent of regional governments in Korea use the web-based system that allows for blueprints and other building plans to be reviewed with a few clicks online.