The latest layer to be turned on in Google Maps is one for webcams. Just click on the “More” button on the top right of each map right next to the “Traffic” button. When you do that, it shows you thumbnails from different public Webcams around the world as tracked by Webcams.travel.
You don’t see an actual video, just the most recent still image captured by the Webcam. But this can come in handy when you want to actually see the traffic on a major highway yourself, or how the waves look like at the beach. While you are at it, you can also click on the other layers, such as Wikipedia entries,, photos Youtube videos, and public transit.
What other Google Map layers do we need?
Awesome – wonder when that’s coming to NZ.
I heard mapquest was overtook by goog maps. Why nobody acquired mapquest?
Also whats happening with wikimapia?
Try http://www.freetube.us.tc – click on webcams – it’s live as opposed to most recent or click on the webpic on google maps and you can watch it semi-live (has update times like 30 seconds + etc)
Very Nice… we have done similar for traffic monitoring please visit http://lewatmana.com/peta/
Currently it is beta launched for Jakarta city in Indonesian language..
Hmm… it’s 11:30 pm here in Washington DC, and most of the “live” webcams show bright sunshine. I wouldn’t depend on this for traffic anytime soon…
really? When I click on the Webcams in Washington, D.C. they all show nighttime shots. Same with NYC.
I think we need an IQ layer, which would look much like terrain. Something tells me SF will be lower than Silicon Valley due to many loud activists.
Seems to have been a temporary glitch.
FWIW, this is the view I was using. 3/4 cameras were at least 4 hours out of date.
http://bit.ly/QPnUR
Maybe you are mixing up the preview icons and the webcam picture itself.
The preview icons always show a daylight picture (taken at noon local time), but if you click on the icon, you see the actual (live) webcam picture.
> [...] but if you click on the icon, you see the actual (live) webcam picture.
No. You see a scraped image taken from the original webcam.
Yes, we call 15-60 minutes old webcam images “live”. But if you are interested in a up to 1 second new webcam image, you can click through Webcams.travel and then click on “newest image” to get the latest (up to) real-time webcam image.
Why does your webcamimage-scraperbot (sorry, don’t know how to call it) identify itself with different user-agents coming from different operating systems (but the same IP-address) and doesn’t have a meaningful name with an explanation what he’s doing on webcmas.travel?
This is really cool, I know a lot of people who have good views and set up webcams for their own enjoyment so they can see the view from their bedroom window etc. Nice to be able to harness all that for public consumption
That’s IRONIC, considering that the G1 DOESN’T DO VIDEO.
WTF ???
Are we all supposed to jailbreak out of T-Mobile’s Android and run the latest git ???
come on Google…. You know this is lame.
This is a slap in the face of Android users and developers alike.
i think the same Chris, a big slap!!!
We should be able to do live video broadcasting mashups with LBS Google maps by now via 3G.
but we can’t, because the API isn’t there.
Just like the bluetooth API.
A layer for chem trails would be nice, to see how many chemicals are being dropped on us daily and where.
WTF are you talking about.
You’ve got the perfect profile pic for that comment.
What about a hybrid of live webcams and street view, ala http://360video.com/viewer.swf ?
Thanks for the lovely good news.
Yelp? Twitter? Crimes?
Could go on forever. FireFox Ubiquity may eventually solve this.
What’s next? Will they introduce the perspective from an animal like a dog or cat! Or better still Google future view, a chance for developers to debut their blueprints and architectural designs to the public
The world is a village now! I like that
What other Google Map layers do we need?
They should have a similar overlay for live videos from mobiles, like Bambuser and Qik! That would rock!
Links to travel guides and hotel reviews –
Tripadvisor.com
Frommers
Fodors
And shopping mall reviews –
http://www.trip...re-outlets.html
I think this is sort of cool, though I wish the webcam.travel site was a little bit easier to use and they should build a facebook app that allows you to post your favorite webcam video straight to your profile page, rather than a thumbnail pic of the location you choose.
But it is cool to see what it is like in Nice, France today!
Wow, that is superb, Google is coming up with new feature ach day and I must say that the past month was lot fruitful and we will see more awesome products from Google. I love Google
Impressive. Wikipedia entries sound cool, but Village Voyage (City wiki for every city) entries seem more relevant / long tail / etc.
I’ve seen google’s product plans. Some day we’ll all have google chips implanted that constantly monitor us. google maps will have layers for our position, what we see and vital signs such as how full our stomach, bladder and intestines are. Restaurants will be able to google for prospective customers near by.
What other Google Map layers do we need?
Social Discovery layer…
just a stepping stone to a full-blown spatiotemporal database.
There’s a similar web service for real surveillance cameras: http://public-v...ts.appspot.com/
The screen saver SurveillanceSaver uses it: http://code.goo...veillancesaver/
actually it came some months ago! it is nice and coud work as a
google landing page. great marketing source
Kind of reminds me of this.
http://justin.t.../adamsblock/all
http://adamsblock.com
It looks like they’re coming out with this really soon. Maybe they should do a google partnership.
love google, love of life
I can suggest also abcwebcam…good one
ABC Webcam
Amazing, ha. Mmmm… Not so much.
Is Google Maps
All these comments and this doesn’t scare anyone just a little? F this Google is getting too BIG for my taste anymore.
impressive post ,the google is searching new methods to develops its maps program but there is small problem ,there are more harm than use of google maps.
Oh technology, What will they think of next! Great idea.
Wow, this is really great. Google is coming up with new and new technologies and ideas on each day. Now I am waiting for more wonderful products from Google. I Love You Google. I love You so much.