Google Street View Singapore at construction of ION Orchard

Tiny Singapore finally joins the ranks of countries with Street View today, right on the heels of the roll out in Hawaii and large parts of Spain in November.

This also makes Singapore the third Asian country after Japan and Taiwan (Taipei city only) to be mapped in 3D by the Mountain View firm.

LTA and Google representatives posing for the media

Yes, Google has spoken… when it comes to improving its map’s accuracy and ease of use, it’s going to haul ass as it brings in multiple data streams quickly.

At a press conference held in the basement level of the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station in Singapore, LTA and Google announced a new data partnership between the two which promises to help LTA reach its goal of creating a “people-centred land transport system that shows the commuter how to commute seamlessly”, according to Mr Yam Ah Mee, LTA’s chief executive.

Are homegrown online maps being side-lined?
However, it’s interesting to note that this visualisation of the “penultimate” transport network will not be stewarded by homegrown online map providers like gothere (lauded by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a national speech) and Singapore Press Holdings’ Rednano search engine.

Existing visual routing on the iPhone 3GS

Existing visual routing (highlighted in purple) on the iPhone 3GS which avoids high traffic areas (in red).

Techgoondu is heading down Thursday morning for an announcement by Google and the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

What could it be?
According to the media invite teaser, I am guessing it could well be a data blend between LTA’s live traffic update and Google Maps’ routing feature (that thingamajing which tells you the route to take from point A to B).

Google Maps already employ a crowdsourced solution in certain US states which tracks (anonymously, or so Google says) the movement of mobile phones when users opt in to the My Location feature and aggregates this data into an average representation of prevailing traffic conditions.

Will Singapore’s Google map be a mix of LTA’s data and big G’s crowdsourced solution? Would there be more stuff like SBS Transit’s Intelligent Route Information System (iris) which estimates arrival time of buses from a bus stop built in?

Sonim XP3 Enduro | S$598 without contract | Available in Q2 2009

Ruggedness has a new phone. This death-defying mobile is so tough; it tempts you to break it… if you can. Sealed against dust, water and thermal shock, the rubber-cased XP3 can be dropped from 1.65 metres onto solid concrete and its electronic innards can withstand vibrations of up to 500 hertz. Sounds like a ringtone pipe dream? Sonim begs to differ. Each XP3 is backed with an unconditional 3-year guarantee.

The XP3 can stay submerged in a metre depth of water for a full 30 minutes and still make calls. And it doesn’t matter whether you pick up a call in the Alps or the Sahara, this phone is sturdy enough to operate at both ends of the thermometer (-20 to 60 degrees Celsius). Rambo would’ve been proud.

Click on “more” to see the video of Eva (Razor.tv) and Edvarcl (Techgoondu) subjecting the Sonim to a torture test ! (fast forward to 2.01 mins)