Yup Streetdirectory.com is coming back up online, here is the official press release, thanks to Glenn from Virtual Map public relations for sending this in.
Singapore, 14 April 2008 – Taking its first step towards becoming fully functional again, Streetdirectory.com came back online at 4:20am today with most of its popular features including bus/ MRT guides and a search function for amenities (ATM, restaurants, etc) in the vicinity of any given address. While the maps of Malaysia and Indonesia are available, Singaporeans will have to continue waiting for their maps.
The website’s holding company Virtual Map has applied for a leave to appeal a High Court judgement on copyright infringement claims brought against the former by the Singapore Land Authority. Streetdirectory.com, the website for maps and travelling directions, was taken down for two weeks as the disputed maps were removed and the software engine upgraded.
Mr. Firdhaus Akber, Managing Director of Virtual Map says, “We’d like to apologise to our users for the inconvenience caused during the few days that streetdirectory.com was down. We read comments in online forums and also met people who were very much affected by the loss of our service, so today is an attempt to respond to their feedback. While we regret that the maps of Singapore are still not up, hopefully the secondary functions like our bus and MRT guides will, in some small way, help ease their inconvenience.”
Virtual Map is currently seeking leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal, after a High Court dismissed Virtual Map’s first appeal. The court will decide on the 21st of April if the leave to appeal is granted.
Virtual Map, also known as VM, is a technology firm that specializes in developing location-based software and solutions. Established in 1999 the company has developed specialized skills in the area of geomatics, wireless communication, GPS tracking, vehicle navigation and mobile applications.
VM is also a content owner and aggregator specializing in the collation, processing and dissemination of high quality raster imagery and location-based datasets.
A significant part of the company’s operations involved collating and processing geographic, location-based information for Singapore and in the Asia Pacific Region. These datasets are then integrated into our various IT platforms depending on client requirements.
Currently VM is able to provide turnkey location-based solutions for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and Taiwan. We have offices in Singapore (HQ) and Jakarta.
Our latest technology and datasets are showcased at www.streetdirectory.com, Asia’s Leading Travel and Mapping portal.
streetdirectory still has the cheek to send this sorta press release! They sued my friend’s father for using their maps once and he had no choice but to shut down his business.
Mind you, he barely opened for 2 months of business!!!
They came knocking at his door asking for compensation not only for the map but for their investigation fees as well as other misc fees that were in US DOLLAR$!!!
Such a lousy website with such a lousy interface. Tons of ads even after they earned so much from suing people!
I cannot believe SLA can actually let them go scott free like that. When I knew about this case, I immediately alerted my friend to inform SLA about streetdirectory’s wrongdoings. I hope the authorities can do something about them soon.
Such companies brings Singapore’s reputation DOWN!
Sorry you had such a hard time on VM on your side, especially with relation to legal issues and closure of your friend’s father’s business, so I understand your rage against them.
Though I credit your valid points, you must still understand that your case here is still largely an isolated one and should not be a major deciding point on how Singaporean users should use Virtual map’s street directory as a whole.
I am a neutral user myself who commutes by train and bus, personally I found street directory’s map service is largely beneficial to my traveling needs and despite the presence and bombardment of ads (which sometimes can be misleading to click on accidentally), but I can commend that their bus and train services offered there far exceeds what SLA and shownearby can offer. To me, I define a good service one who can cater to my needs satisfactory whenever I need it.
True that the site is not perfect, but at least I know their PR are keen to listen and learn from their mistakes and I believe they should too especially with the launch of a new competitor, rednano.sg recently.
Let the battle begin!
For businesses using streetdirectory.com maps or if you want your own location map, you can use this free service – http://www.elocationmap.com. Hope it is useful.
Streetdirectory should just go down… I hope bad UI and a hell of bad attitude. Sue other fellow SME for money. Stupid CEO with stupid BD team Stupid business model. Deserve to close down. I think their investor is Jobsdb. If you all have too much money go donate to the poor. Dun support this kindof business.