k r i s a n d r o

Remember my review on gothere.sg sometime back? The awesome street guide for Singapore is now giving away an iPhone 3G 8GB!

All you have to do is to use MSN/WLM, GTalk or Twitter to stand a chance to win the iPhone! Full instructions can be found on their website here.

Gothere.sg is one website that is such an undiscovered gem for street directions and they truly deserve more traffic and exposure than what they are having now.

The iPhone 3G giveaway contest ends on 19th April 2009 at 11:59pm. Go spread the word!

By the way, the gothere team is also working on an iPhone app. Can’t wait for it!

I am very bad with directions and have trouble remembering how to get from point A to B even if I might have traveled the same route before. Streetdirectory.com was my savior back then and even so, I have been hating the cluttered layout and lack of support for SMRT buses in their route planning for public transport. But compared to the other local map directories, streetdirectory.com was the best.

Streetdirectory.com was sued by Singapore Land Authority (SLA) last year over the usage of their maps and it took very long bring back the maps to the needy locals like me and probably lost quite a large number of following in the period of time. I do have to highlight that the facebook group has quite an impressive following of 5K+ members.

But thanks to the e27 conference that I’ve attended in July, I got to know about a local startup by 3 young men called GoThere.sg. There were many interesting web startups that thay but GoThere.sg was definitely the highlight for me. After using it for months and months, I reaffirm that it is everything that streetdirectory.com should be and MORE.

 

Clean Interface

Messy Streetdirectory.com

VS

Neat Gothere.sg

Compared to the clutter of Streetdirectory.com, Gothere.sg is a great relief to the eyes. There have just undergone a face-lift and it looks aestheically pleasing while retaining the clutter-free interface.

 

Leveraging on a Great Product

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Gothere.sg’s maps are based on the already wonderful product that is of Google Maps. If you guys have ever used Google Maps before, I am sure you’ll marvel at the speed and the ease of navigation. What Gothere.sg did was to add overlays of local information like block numbers, building names, bus stop locations coupled with bus services and even ERP gantry locations. This made a great product even better and relevant to the locals.

 

Excellent Public Transport Guide

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This has to be the most important for me and people who do not own a car. Choose where you are going from and where you are off to and Gothere.sg will tell you how to drive there or how to travel to the destination via public transport with two options, ‘Bus only’ OR ‘Bus and Train’. Gothere.sg plans your route with train and bus information from both SBS AND SMRT.

 

Other Great Features

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Clicking icons on the maps like Parking, ERP and Bus Stops gives you information like parking fees, ERP car rates, bus services and timings (for SBS via IRIS).

 

Gothere.sg allows the embedding of their map to help you share the route/information you found on a website.

 

Gothere.sg is still an infant compared to Streetdirectory.com but has already surpassed their predessesor in so many aspects. I do hope that the guys at Gothere.sg can find ways to monetize the site while keeping the clutter to a minimum like the way it is now. One can only hope for more improvements and have it grow and not die off like many web startups we have all seen that died prematurely.

Trust me on this one. Forget about Streetdirectory.com. GoThere.sg is the answer! Spread the word!