Korea's spatial information industry surpassed 10 trillion won ($7.8 billion) in sales last year, in a feat underpinned by robust demand for the digitization of work processes at state-run organizations and their private peers, powered further by the COVID-19 pandemic, the land ministry said Monday. Also buttressing the average annual increase of a solid 7.8 percent over the past decade was the metaverse, an online platform where young individuals express their identities through the use of avatars.