Is this the end of StreetDirectory.com?
8 Aug 2007 (Wed)I FEEL VERY PERPLEXED READING this report in The Straits Times (H2) this morning:
“A district court yesterday ruled that Virtual Map (Singapore)’s online maps on StreetDirectory.com had breached the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) copyright. The judge also ordered the company to destroy or deliver up all infringing material.”
I’ve been referring to the maps and related services (e.g. Bus/MRT directions) on StreetDirectory.com for years and found them very useful in helping me find my way around Singapore. Yes, we are living in a very small island (only 699.0 sq km). But this island also has a population of more than four million people and God knows how many streets and buildings. I’m sure at least thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of other users find the site very useful too.
What a dreadful piece of news to read on the eve of our national day! Does this court case mean the end of a free and very useful reference site for Singaporeans and visitors? Or (still hopeful…) will SLA start providing this service instead?
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Posted by J.K. in Copyright, News, Possibilities, Problems, Singapore | 18 Comments |
August 8th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Noooooooooooo!! I can’t live without Streetdirectory.com! *sob*
August 8th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
oh nooooooooooo.. i’m a direction idiot and streetdirectory.com is my #1 helper! noooo…
August 8th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Umm, hopefully, StreetDirectory will work out a deal with SLA. And we are still not sure, to what extent the copyright infringement is.
The service is being used by millions of people. So, it is unwise to bring down the site.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Ironical, seeing how streetdirectory.com was suing people for using their maps not too long ago.
Anyway, SLA already provides a free map service. http://www.map.gov.sg/
Of course they do not provide any bus/mrt directions (which can be taken from the sbs website though)
But streetdirectory has been very useful. Hope a solution gets worked out.
August 9th, 2007 at 1:10 am
But this is so ironical. A few years ago, streetdirectory.com went around sending legal letters to many websites owners who placed an image of the location map from streetdirectory in their websites without paying for the map. That time, owner were made to pay about $10k for infringing streetdirectory.com’s copyright.
Can see some of the original discussion here.
Anyway, can try using http://www.map.gov.sg
August 9th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Ironic indeed. Would StreetDirectory.com now be required to return the monies it collected from other website owners? Or give it to LTA? And that $10K amount… was it paid by individual owners or collectively?
August 9th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
The payment was by each individual or company who has infringed on streetdirectory.com’s copyright.
August 9th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
LTA wants a piece of the cake. Ready for a spin off after the legal dust settles down. Now, they will know which street is searched most. Also, they will have the final say of what is to be displayed or not.
October 8th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Thanks to a friend of a friend who forwarded this very useful street finder and related information and instructions:
Now you need not buy expensive GPS Navigational Devices, and you need not have to buy Street Directories to plot your drive in Singapore.
Go to this website : SkyPigeon.com
Type in the address of where you wish to drive “From”.
Type in the address of where you wish to drive “To”.
Click “Get Directions”.
And presto!
On the right, you have a map in colour with your start point flagged Green
and your destination flagged Red.
On the left, you have a detailed route instructions with exact distances and
approximate driving time.
Just like your own GPS.
Print it out and give thanks to Google.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 am
You might want to check this website out: ShowNearby.com. Its deemed to be the replacement of Streetdirectory by industry watchers.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Streetdirectory.com is down, i’m using this for route planning – http://www.eRoutePlanner.com
April 4th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Jason, eRoutePlanner.com looks like SkyPigeon.com to me. Any difference?
ShowNearby.com looks interesting, with tabs for People, Places and Events.
By the way, thanks to suggestions by pingsters, those looking for bus services can check them up at a Singeo.com.sg site or an SBSTransit site.
April 5th, 2008 at 9:01 am
According to a Straits Times report on 3 April, Virtual Map shuts down street directory site after losing suit. (Thanks, DK and Lancerlord.)
I truly don’t understand why StreetDirectory.com has to shut down. Why can’t the court ask SLA to work out some partnership or licensing arrangement with StreetDirectory.com?
Finally, just to recap, here’s a list of alternative sites:
April 16th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I hate this! Really, I just wrote at maps.gov.sg at the LTA site telling them that if they can’t come up with decent services like streetdirectory.com has provided, then don’t even bother doing up a directory site. Don’t know if this gets me in trouble or not!
How am I suppose to know how to travel by bus to a certain place? I am really upset. I can’t even download the map at maps.gov.sg.
April 19th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Another alternative of streetdirectory is http://singapore-streetmap.com
From what I know, the owner of this website is trying to develop some function that useful to all singaporean. including search by postal code, etc.
check it out
May 26th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Or just maps.google.com. I know earthsg.com is coming up also.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I think Streetdirectory.com is up again.
November 27th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Or you can use http://www.streetdb.com as an alternative, and it comes with ERP rates when you mouseover.
It is from the people behind SingaporeExpats.com and AGIS the navigation company.