New Facebook widget accesses traffic cams near its users

By Tim Conneally | Published April 16, 2008, 4:09 PM

TrafficLand, a site providing free access to a network of over 6,000 cameras, is now offering its live highway feeds as embeddable widgets. How much closer will this widget make users feel to their Facebook buddies?


Whether it's for travel or event-planning purposes or simply for the morbid possibility of witnessing a live car accident, TrafficLand's cameras, which are in place in over 60 worldwide markets, can now be placed in Facebook and other sites. The image above is from one of the more frequently updated cameras on the site, located just south of Washington, DC and north of Springfield, VA, one of the areas of the worst traffic congestion in the United States. Images refresh here every two seconds, but some of the busiest cameras, such as the one in Piccadilly Circus in London, and on 495 outside of New York City, go as long as 6 minutes between image refreshes.

Though the image quality and frame rate do not lend a "video" feeling to these cams, local departments of transportation frequently offer the same public views.

Comments

I've never even been to Facebook or Myspace. I don't even understand the social networking thing. What can you do there that you couldn't do with ICQ or a cell phone? Read ads about male enhancement? Thats what I'm guessing.

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Funny how you pass judgment on it them without even trying for yourself...

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The problem with socnet's in my opinion is not their nature itself, but the fact that there are WAY too much of them around and most of them offer absolutely nothing new compared to all the others. And what's worse, people are spread all over them, due to the fact that there are so many. And thus to keep in contact with all the people I need I HAVE TO be registered on many socnet's and check them for updates, etc which is simply a pain in the ass.

So for now all I see is quantity, not quality. Which is sad really...

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Exactly. I mean, c'mon, they are trying SO hard to make money off it. RIDICULOUS! The funny thing is that A LOT of academics (and by that I don't mean greyhaired people in glasses, but normal people doing research) say that social networks are one very hard place to make money from. Anyhow, facebook is CRAP. And I really mean 100% pure crap. All I see is ads, and stupid addons that nobody use OR addons that people use that piss off other people. Facebooks is not myspace. JUST YET :|

Please, people, stop creating social networks. Each of them has a few people in it and those aren't even inter-connected. DON'T YOU SEE THAT THIS SIMPLY CAN'T LEAD ANYWHERE? This is getting so so ridiculous...

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Yeah... Facebook has gone to s h i t pretty damn quick with all these applications and useless crap!

Just give me the Facebook from last year and I'll be happy again!

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Facebook can kiss my a s s and die.

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