Webcams and Maps

My writing about the famous coffee pot Webcam, and its internet of things implications, reminded me of work we did looking at the output of public webcams as data sources for shopping traffic and activity.  Different than the gathering of data in our lab, linked to work with IBM,  but still a source of public data to combine with private.  In 2009 Google announced a layer of public webcam to be added to maps.   Regrettably later this effort was removed and added to a separate map effort.  There are still many directories of Webcams still online.

Putting Coffee Machines on the IOT

It has long been a challenge to connect coffee machines to the internet.   Something comfortable about making coffee available reliably at all times and letting us know it.   Even inspiring the worlds first webcam in 1991.  Now we are seeing it commercially, clearly a better way

 Nestlé picks Telefónica to build IoT for coffee machines by Alex Scroxton
Nestlé’s professional business services unit will incorporate internet of things technology into its coffee machines in pursuit of greater efficiency and customer satisfaction

International food and catering services supplier Nestlé has chosen Telefónica Business Solutions to provide a 50-country internet of things (IoT) communications network for its Nestlé Professional coffee business as part of a major digital transformation.  ... "  

Gazerecorder Eye Tracking

Brought to my attention by a client connection.    In Sourceforge, a new version 1.9 of Gazerecorder  " ... WebCam Eye Tracking for usability testing ... " .  See also their web site.    A broad overview with images. 

Google Maps Includes WebCams

Google Maps has started to include webcam locations. Now over 9,000 world-wide.  (Link no longer works, the effort was stopped n about 2013, see the tag link for more)