EarthCam

Last updated
EarthCam
EarthCam Logo.gif
Type of site
Webcam Network
Available inEnglish
Created byBrian Cury (CEO and Founder)
URL earthcam.com
CommercialYes, advertising and licensing of its proprietary webcam content.
LaunchedMarch 27, 1996;27 years ago (1996-03-27)
Current statusActive

EarthCam, Inc., based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, United States, provides webcam content, technology and services. Founded in 1996, EarthCam.com is a network of scenic webcams offering a complete searchable database of views of places around the world.

Contents

As the company grew, EarthCam expanded beyond building its network of tourism cameras and extended its reach into other industries by developing and delivering technology for many applications in verticals including construction, transportation, and surveillance. Expanding beyond the pages of its main site, EarthCam.com, EarthCam's network of websites has grown to include WebCamStore.com, EarthCamMobile.com, and most notably EarthCam.net, a site for businesses and organizations to purchase webcams and EarthCam's proprietary software to manage their camera networks. Mobile applications for accessing EarthCam's live webcams and for clients to control their private cameras are available for Apple Inc. or Android (operating system) devices.

EarthCam and other live webcam services have a huge impact on entertainment and business, allowing for online "travel," meetings, and easy access to knowledge. [1] Virtual travel also became possible with webcams located at major worldwide tourist attractions such as London's Abbey Road, [2] the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach, Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign".

History

Brian Cury, CEO and founder of EarthCam, Inc., launched EarthCam.com in 1996 to build a network of webcams offering views of destinations throughout the world.

In 1999 it was claimed 20 people per day were adding their webcams to the website. [3] By 2006 the website was a Webby Award Winner in the Tourism category. [4] It is viewed by fans in 192 countries and ranks among the top 1% of all websites, according to Alexa.com. [5]

One of the first highly publicised events that EarthCam produced, labelled "Webcast of the Century", featured celebrations from around the world at the turn of the new millennium on New Year's Eve 1999 / New Year's Day 2000. 100 cameras were located across the world, taking pictures every 30 seconds, viewed using an interactive world map on EarthCam.com. [3]

In October 2011 EarthCam built and installed the 'TorchCams', custom camera systems that generate live video and widescreen images, giving visitors panoramic views from the Statue of Liberty torch, the location that has been closed to the public since 1916. [6] [7] [8] The five cameras were donated to the National Park Service by EarthCam, Inc. [9] [10]

In May 2015, EarthCam announced that it had chosen Davis Brody Bond - Architect of the 9/11 Memorial Museum - to design its new 10-acre campus in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. [11]

To ring in the new year in 2017, EarthCam installed 4K live streaming video cameras in Times Square in order to broadcast the first-ever 4K stream of the Times Square celebration live on YouTube. [12] Through the years, EarthCam’s streaming video quality has evolved, from still JPEG images updating once every 60 seconds in 1996 to 4K "ultra-high definition" streaming video today.

Website

EarthCam.net provides live streaming video, megapixel, wireless, and solar-powered camera systems, along with managed services, for corporate clients and government agencies worldwide, including the General Services Administration (GSA). Powered by EarthCam's Control Center 8 webcam management service that is delivered as a user-controllable SaaS (Software as a Service) interface, EarthCam's professional webcam technology is used to view, document, and promote projects. Additional advanced imaging technology services are offered including gigapixel images and most recently, EarthCam Air, aerial photography which combines EarthCam’s webcam technology with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) services to produce geospatial images.

By visiting EarthCam, viewers have the capability to see historical places and landmarks around the world, especially in the US. EarthCam cameras located at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial [13] in Washington DC, the Flight 93 National Memorial [14] in Shanksville, PA, Seattle's Space Needle, Wall Street's notable Charging Bull and more deliver unique views, both live and archived. The archived images can be edited together to produce time-lapse videos such as the Ground Zero 10-year time-lapse [15] which was created from images captured at the site from September 2001 through September 2011.

Projects documented by EarthCam

MoscowCam by EarthCam 2018-earthcam.jpg
MoscowCam by EarthCam

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Liberty</span> Colossal sculpture in New York Harbor

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Webcam</span> Video camera connected to a computer or network

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trojan Room coffee pot</span> Predecessor of the webcam

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">QuickCam</span>

QuickCam is a line of webcam video camera products by Logitech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stereo camera</span>

A stereo camera is a type of camera with two or more lenses with a separate image sensor or film frame for each lens. This allows the camera to simulate human binocular vision, and therefore gives it the ability to capture three-dimensional images, a process known as stereo photography. Stereo cameras may be used for making stereoviews and 3D pictures for movies, or for range imaging. The distance between the lenses in a typical stereo camera is about the distance between one's eyes and is about 6.35 cm, though a longer base line produces more extreme 3-dimensionality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Liberty in popular culture</span>

After its unveiling in 1886, the Statue of Liberty, by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, quickly became iconic, and began to be featured on posters, postcards, pictures and books. The statue's likeness has also appeared in films, television programs, music videos, and video games, and has been used in logos, on postage stamps and coins, and in theatrical productions. Liberty Enlightening the World remains a popular local, national, and international political symbol of freedom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza</span> Museum dedicated to John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, U.S.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xbox Live Vision</span> Webcam accessory for the Xbox 360

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JunoCam is the visible-light camera/telescope onboard NASA's Juno spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter. The camera is operated by the JunoCam Digital Electronics Assembly (JDEA). Both the camera and JDEA were built by Malin Space Science Systems. JunoCam takes a swath of imaging as the spacecraft rotates; the camera is fixed to the spacecraft, so as it rotates, it gets one sweep of observation. It has a field of view of 58 degrees with four filters.

WeiweiCam is a self-surveillance project by artist Ai Weiwei, in China, that went live on April 3, 2012, exactly one year after the artist's detention by Chinese officials at Beijing Airport. At least fifteen surveillance cameras monitor his house in Beijing which, according to Ai, makes it the most-watched spot of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decorah Bald Eagles</span> American livestreaming website

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canon EOS-1D X Mark II</span> DSLR camera

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