By Donna Woodka, woodka@arpa.net
| One of the most interesting uses of the Internet that
I’ve seen is placing a camera somewhere and sending the live picture to a Web site.
While this has some intriguing possibilities for remote security, traffic reporting and
road safety, some of the sites do nothing more than show someone’s office, or fish in
a fish tank. Some people have used this technology to keep track of pets at home, or check
up on the kids at day care. Field researchers may also come to find this technology
invaluable. Other uses for webcams include video conferencing, viewing real estate
properties, and making travel plans.
San Diego Livecams Here are some of the San Diego area livecams, some useful, some not very useful, but all with an interesting view of our town.
Livenet San Diego Baycam A lovely view of San Diego Bay.
Scripps Seashore The view from Scripps.
Canyon Cam Canyon view from Vigra’s offices.
La Jolla Cam Provides a view of La Jolla from the UCSD campus.
Camzone Camzone offers links to Kim’s "fish cam" in La Jolla, featuring the goldfish Linus and Mozilla. Camzone also sponsors the "JJ cam" at Sea World, where you can see live images of the gray whale JJ. You can also reach this image via http://jj.seaworld.org. Camzone will also link you to the Del Mar Beach Cam, a lovely live view of the shores at Del Mar and a surf report.
Real Time Traffic Reporting Provides a view of traffic down Interstate 15 at Carmel Mountain Road. This page also links to the north and south bound I-15 traffic reports at http://www.scubed.com/caltrans/sd/id_s/ID080.html (for southbound traffic) and http://www.scubed.com/caltrans/sd/id_s/ID074.html (for northbound traffic).
San Diego Traffic Report While not camera-based, this service from Maxwell Labs and CalTrans offers real-time reporting of traffic in San Diego county. The scubed page also offers Los Angeles and Orange County reports. The site also offers links to traffic sites in several other cities, including the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Cams California livecam sites of interest include the beach view from Venice, Calif., at http://www.westland.net/beachcam and the Santa Monica Pier Cam at http://www.westland.net/piercam. You can also get a view of the Golden Gate Bridge at http://www.camerica.com/mousing_around/gatecam.
The Worldwide Webcam SnapCAP Sites, at http://www.halcyon.com/artamedia/snapcap/snapsites.html, lists many sites worldwide. Snapcap offers Webcam software for Windows 95 and NT, if you are interested in starting up your own Web camera site. If you need a digital camera, try Connectix Quickcam hardware (those cute little eyeball cameras), at http://www.quickcam.com. Connectix also offers a quick tutorial for setting up your own webcam. Digital Camera Network (DCN) offers a Webcam of the Day Award at http://www.dcn.com/awards. The DCN site also links to webcams around the U.S.A. and the world. Tommy’s Livecam at http://chili.rt66.com/ozone/cam.htm offers a worldwide list of live cams, as well as links to current events and other interesting sites.
Incredible Webcam A listing of cameras world-wide.
Earthcam Earthcam includes a page of weird and bizarre cams, including telerobots, toilets, cockroaches, cows, tigers, squirrels, bird feeders, etc. Finally, The Ultimate Camera page at http://szym.com/cameras lists scores of cameras from around the world. The U.S. page loads images from 80 cameras all over the country on the same page—don’t try this on a slow computer! Enjoy these windows into the world outside your office! And behave out there—you never know who might be watching. Candid Camera was just the beginning! |