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April 16, 2009

Webcams Layer in Google Maps

Google Maps added a layer that shows webcams from all over the world. You can enable it by clicking on "More..." and selecting "Webcams".

Google displays webcams from the aggregator webcams.travel, a site that lists more than 9000 webcams. "All the webcams from Webcams.travel are now available on the integrated layer of Google Maps. This was made possible within the cooperation of Webcams.travel with Google," explains Webcams.travel's blog.

If you click on a thumbnail, Google will show "a snapshot of the camera that has been taken in the last 15 minutes". You'll need to click on the snapshot twice (first at Google Maps and then at webcams.travel) to get to the source and see the live webcam.

Google Earth has a similar layer for geo-located webcams and there's an alternative interface at webcams.travel.

27 comments:

  1. Wow, it's snowing in Normandie!
    http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=49.868972,1.09726&spn=0.243413,0.4422&z=11&iwloc=lyrftr:com.google.ugc.c752d13e87c4fbd7,10479708104278855500,49.799882,1.133652&lci=com.google.ugc.c752d13e87c4fbd7

    (FYI, no, it's not)

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  2. Seems like a cool idea, but the geolocation data has some accuracy issues. I was looking at a map of the Boston area and one webcam was off by 5 to 10 miles and another was of Newton, Iowa instead of Newton, Massachusetts. :)

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  3. Diffrent way to see live webcams from around the world...
    ABC Webcam

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  4. webcams.travel is a community driven project. So there may inaccuracies in the geolocation of some webcams. But everyone is free to correct the geolocation of these webcams.

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  5. wow that is cool ? first time to know?

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  6. There has been a lot of debate in Denmark about Google taking photos in the streets of Copenhagen. So I would guess webcams will be very unpopular also.

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  7. video ok satellite photo ok streetview ok- but webcam is very negative for the privacy. i love google and other map product but webcam that watch my house is more negative. i hope that google came back to this decision.

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  8. Sweet, making it easier to recon my targets. Thanks GOOGLE!

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  9. Awesome! How can I include this on my Google map application? Is there any API/SDK? I can not find it on http://code.google.com/apis/maps/.

    Appreciate any help.

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  10. Too bad that many links to the source images are already wrong upon submission.
    Even typos in domain names can make their way into that site.

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  11. Why does the webcam-image scraper bot hide behind different user agents and operating systems while coming from the same IP-address? Why don't they give it a meaningful name with an explanatory page on their website?

    Anything to hide?

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  12. Looks like webcams.travel doesn't have too many webcams compared to local sites like Tenerife Webcams

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  13. well... it's awesome but it seems to be assigned to a specific areas .u just can't put ur home webcam to show ur room or the backyard as well !!!

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  14. Google has scheduled a photo shoot from our Boutique in Brookly New York Called Little Loungers interior taking pictures of how the baby clothes are displayed and what the customer sees when entering the store. Interviewing what the customer’s interest, top sellers, paying attention to how our friendly sales staff helping a new mom or moms-to-be a layaway package by filling out a baby check list or signing up a baby registry offering free baby gift with layette purchase of $99 & more. It looks like it’s important for Google to give people a full understanding of what is available at this particular address. We hope they are only targeting public places.

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  15. I work at a college and have posted two of our webcams on webcams.travel. They've been approved but haven't shown up on google maps yet. Anyone know how long that usually takes? Thanks...

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  16. Even more webcams (16000!) just for the mountain regions in Europe on Sionvalais. Try the webcam navigator; our Google Map app
    http://sionvalais.com

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  17. Same here I posted a webcam which has been approved at webcams.travel, is there something else I have to do, or does it just take time?

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  18. That is the greatest that google made. It serves as the window of every country all over the globe. With we can easily know what is happening in one place.

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  19. My favourite webcam directory for the mountain regions of Europe is Sionvalais!
    http://sionvalais.com

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  20. The problem is that people dont wanna see static cams they wanna check out live cams. www.geocam.tv shows the cam in the window

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  21. Czech (Prague) webcams incl. HW description: http://web-cam.cz

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  22. Not sure if this layer is a good idea. There are lots of severe misplacements, duplicate listings, cruise ships nailed to a specific location for years...
    I don't mind that webcams.travel (or it's so-called "community") doesn't get that right, but people tend to believe what they read on Google - and in this case Google is simply misinforming!

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  23. this is good but could we atlest have it over everywhere in the world not just certain places oh and its not a web cam its a picture

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  24. Very Cool technology, but google also have to consider about people privacy. No one can escape from Google Live Cams ..

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