Forget going around the world in 80 days. You can go around the world in 80 minutes, or 80 seconds if you want to take shortcuts. The Internet has become the cool tool for the armchair traveler.
The World Wide Web is booming, and the view is everywhere, in the form of Web cams. These live cameras are deployed worldwide, displaying real-time photos that can bring the heat of Miami or the chill of the Antarctic to your screen in a few seconds.
They're brought to you by thousands of Web page creators who have a desire to share their offices, living rooms, pets, refrigerators, backyards and skylines. Not all of the views are scenic -- some Web cams offer what might be called highly intimate portraits of their owners' lives.
In other cases, commercial Web site operators have turned this voyeuristic technology into profitable pornography businesses. And yes, many Web cams are downright boring.
But some views are so ordinary that they become extraordinary. We're getting an unvarnished look at real life -- people scratching their heads, typing, sipping a cup of coffee.
"I saw somebody had focused a camera on a coffee maker somewhere," says Mark Bryant, whose Amazing Bullcreek Cam shows him working several hours a day in his home office in Austin, Texas. "I thought, 'I can probably do that.'"
A recent search for "Webcams" on HotBot turned up more than 50,000 hits. Some are sites that list addresses for Webcams around the world, and the sheer profusion of hits indicates that Web cams could be as ubiquitous as TV in the future.
Even now, the Web cam is a great way to travel. Your ticket: a computer with Internet access and up-to-date browser software (many destinations use Javascript to update their photos). It's also a good idea to keep your eye on the clock and have a good feeling for time zones. Daylight can make a big difference in what you see through a Web cam -- or whether you see anything at all.
To make this travel brochure easier to read, we've numbered the sites and placed the full Web addresses at the end of the article. So jump aboard our cyber-tour:
You'll feel like the ruler of the world, sitting on the 25th floor of your downtown skyscraper, gazing at Baltimore's Inner Harbor Cam (1). It's a great view, but something is missing. Adventure! Excitement! Or, more expediently, beer. So run down to Fells Point to grab a quick one at Max's on Broadway (2), where the whole world can watch you ponder your travel plans. "It's live, so people love to clock in, take a look and see who's at the bar," says Joe Gold, who handles the saloon's marketing and promotions.
Before you leave, check the traffic. The State Highway Administration (3) shows live videos of the region's Interstate highways through eight real-time Web cams in the Baltimore and Washington areas. Of course, you'll have to look good for the journey, so make your first stop for a quick haircut at Toby's Barber Shop (4) in Lexington Park, Md. (live from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.). Then keep moving south.
In the District of Columbia, drop in at the White House (5) to discuss your mission. The view is precarious; in fact, from this height, you can really drop in. A quick hop southwest to the North Carolina mountains, and you're on the slopes at Sugar Ski and Country Club (6), where you can soak up the snow till you're really ready to head for the sun.
Ah, Miami Beach (7). It's surf and sand by day and the neon-lighted art-deco strip of South Beach at night. If you're feeling lonely amid the glitz, you can look for a faithful puppy companion at the Humane Society Pet Cam (8) and keep moving toward even warmer climes in Key West (9).
Now you're ready to leap off the edge of America. Take a dive into the Caribbean and swim on over to the Panama Canal's Miraflores Locks (10), where big ships are doing big business. Once you're through the locks, swim down to Chile and visit the city of Santiago (11). If you want to read about the urban sprawl you're watching and don't speak Spanish, you can head over to the AltaVista search engine (www.altavista.com) to have the page translated.
It's time to go really far south now -- to Antarctica, land of austere beauty and research posts (12). Satisfy your curiosity at Davis Station, Mawson Station and Macquarie Island, where there are penguins in sight! Then check out the Automated Astrophysical Site-Testing Observatory at the South Pole itself.
Ready to head north again? Well, everywhere is north from here. The shivering pup you picked up in Miami is relieved. In South Africa, visit the watering holes in local game preserves (13) and try to catch sight of some critters. At night, a spotlight illuminates some locations. Next, leap northward to Israel to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem (14) or take a stroll on Israeli beaches (15).
There's so much to see when you swing up through Europe that you'll have to be selective. In San Sebastian, Spain (16), you can bask in the sun before you hop to Paris for a view of the Arc de Triomphe -- the centerpiece of the Champs-Elysees (17). In London, the River Thames (18) is always busy, and as long as you're in the U.K., don't forget to pop up to Scotland and look for the mythical monster in Loch Ness (19).
Now it's back to the continent, where Florence, Italy, appears absolutely magical from Brunelleschi's Cupola at the Cathedral S. Maria del Fiore (20). Then take a spin through Berlin (21) before sailing north to Stavanger Harbor in Norway (22). In Moscow, the Kremlin (23) always seems shrouded in mystery -- even with the weather forecast and exchange rate ticker scrolling below it. For a panorama of the great city from another angle, check out a Web cam at Moscow State University (24).
Let's head East, in a roundabout way. In Pakistan, you'll get a look at Sharah-e-Faisal Karachi through Karachi Cam (25). Then it's off to Japan, where you can sometimes catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji (26), or gaze at Tokyo Tower, which rises above the city's skyline like a rocket (27).
In Hong Kong, you'll get a fabulous look at the city (28) from four locations. Then it's time hop over to Koh Samui, Thailand, for a nap on the beach (29) before popping down to Australia, which is full of interesting Web cam destinations. Visit Melbourne (30) and the big cities before heading to the beach for surfing, Aussie style (31). We don't mean Web surfing.
You can get stuck in a traffic jam in Auckland, New Zealand (32), before flying northeast again for a stop on native soil in Hawaii. Here, you'll enjoy the beaches and scuba dive at Molokini Crater on Maui (33).
But you've been missing winter, haven't you? Time for a quick stop to check out the street scene in Anchorage, Alaska (34), before heading south to California, where you can control the view through a movable camera at Exploratorium (35). When it's working (an iffy proposition), you can check out the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.
If all this traveling is making you tired, head East and relax in the ski scene in Aspen (36) before catching a train in Chicago (37) that will take you to New York. There, you wander dazed around Times Square (38) and realize that your journey is about to end.
But there are more trips ahead. Gaze at the stars through a 24-inch telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory (39), and you might see where your next trip could take you. Or, you can catapult yourself into space for one quick look at the Mid-Atlantic from a satellite (40). Even when it's cloudy, there's no place like home.
Here are the addresses for your whirlwind Web cam tour of the world.
1 BALTIMORE HARBOR CAM www.harborcam.com
2 MAX'S ON BROADWAY www.maxs.com/live_video.htm
3 MARYLAND TRAFFIC CAMS www.chart.state.md.us/pages/Cameras/cameras.htm
4 TOBY'S BARBER SHOP www.tqci.net/~toby/cam512.htm
5 WHITE HOUSE CAM www.mti1.com/home/Whitehouse/index.html
6 SUGAR MOUNTAIN SKI CAM www.appnetsite.com/webcameras _Sugar.htm
7 SOUTH (MIAMI) BEACH WEB CAM www.justsurfit.com/southbeach/webcams/ca m1.shtml
8 HUMANE SOCIETY PET CAM www.humanesocietymiami.org/petcam/
9 KEY WEST SKYCAMhttp://nbcin.nbc6.nbc.com/tvsd/sto rmwatch/skycam/laconchacam.shtml
10 PANAMA CANAL MIRAFLORES LOCKS www.pancanal.com/photo/camera-java.html
11 SANTIAGO, CHILE www.ctc.cl/corporacion/edificio/panoramica/html/ index.html
12 ANTARCTIC WEB CAMS www.antdiv.gov.au/stations/davis/video.html www.antdiv.gov.au/stations/mawson/video.html www.antdiv.gov.au/stations/macca/video.html http://bat.phys.unsw.edu.au/~aasto/
13 SOUTH AFRICAN GAME PRESERVES www.africam.com
14 THE WESTERN WALL IN JERUSALEM www.thewall.org
15 ISRAELI BEACHES www.isracam.co.il/beachcam.htm
16 SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN http://207.201.157.184/livecam/camext.htm
17 ARC DE TRIOMPHE (PARIS) www.topin.ch/fr/paris/
18 THAMES RIVER CAM (LONDON) www.livesights.com/cgi-bin/nph-VideoPages .plx?title=live
19 LOCH NESS CAM (SCOTLAND) www.lochness.co.uk/livecam/index.html
20 FLORENCE, ITALY www.vps.it/propart/cupola.htm
21 BERLIN CITYSCOPE www.cityscope.de/cityscope_de/kameras/
22 STAVANGER (NORWAY) HARBOR CAM http://home.sol.no/~kmeyer/virtual.htm
23 KREMLIN KAM www.kremlinkam.com/english.asp
24 MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY CITY CAM http://jupiter.math.msu.su/~mnn/webcam.htm
25 KARACHI CAM (PAKISTAN) www.instecdigital.com/1/idscam.htm
26 MOUNT FUJI CAM www.sunplus.com/fuji/livee.htm
27 TOKYO TOWER http://info.nttls.co.jp/soshiki/is2/tower/index.html
28 HONG KONG WEB CAMS www.hkta.org/gallery/webcams.html
29 KOH SAMUI BEACH (THAILAND) www.sawadee.com/cam/
30 MELBOURNE CAM (AUSTRALIA) http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/Melbourne/ Weather/Melbourne_Web_Cam/
31 AUSTRALIAN SURF CAMS www.surfcam.com.au/surfcams/index.htm
32 NEW ZEALAND TRAFFIC CAM www.mantrack.co.nz/webcam/webcam.cgi
33 MOLOKINI CRATER CAM www.webcam.inmaui.com/
34 ALASKA CAM http://camera.touchngo.com
35 SAN FRANCISCO EXPLORATORIUM http://events.exploratorium.edu/CAM2/ind ex.html
36 ASPEN, COLO. http://aspeninfo.com/picture.htm
37 20TH CENTURY RAILROAD CLUB (CHICAGO) www.20thCentury.org/RailCam.htm
38 TIMES SQUARE CAMS www.earthcam.net/nycams/index.html
39 MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY http://tie.mtwilson.edu
40 THE MID ATLANTIC FROM SPACE www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/satellite/lates t_BWI_vis.jpg
OTHER SITES
THE AMAZING BULLCREEK CAM http://bigmac.bullcreek.austin.tx.us/realtime/ realtime.html
WEB CAM DIRECTORIES
www.earthcam.net
http://camcentral.com
www.liveviews.org
Pub Date: 03/22/99