Google Maps - Singapore restricted zones
By Murray Bourne, 13 Apr 2007
I was looking for an address in Singapore's Streetdirectory.com, and was surprised to see many portions of the satellite view were hidden by a message that says:
Their maps are supplied by Google.
But this is strange because over at Google Maps, there are no such restrictions and you can see the whole island.
Significance? This is a Mindef (Ministry of Defence) facility. The Singapore government has put a lid on Streetdirectory.com showing those areas, but you can see those areas so easily elsewhere. Seems to me like a rather ineffective way to hide - in fact, it draws attention to those places.
Footnote: I modified this post (by removing some images before publishing) after reading a blog post on the same issue (not longer available) where the authors of Streetdirectory.com write:
With regards to why the images are blocked on Streetdirectory.com. Yes, thats the requirement from our local authorities here.
Google is not a Singapore based company but we are. So we have to play by the rules even though it does seems funny and weird.
I suggest that u guys dont publish anything that have sensitive information. Law is law 🙂
And that, folks, is how self-censorship works in Singapore.
See the 3 Comments below.