Does anybody know how we might increase the size of the “live” image on the Rochelle web-cam to fill the entire screen on my computer?
or is there any way to light it at night? just enough to tell what the trains are
Unfortunately the webcam cannot be resized as it is an embedded Java applet. Java is coding language that websites use to deliver specifically formatted content, in this case the webcam streaming video, which is actually just a lot of single images refreshed every second or so.
I do professional web development for a government agency as well as for other organizations.
I just looked at the webcam again and it looks like snow on the ground today!
Cheers,
Ryan
Thanks, I just thought there might have been a chance, but no soap. Yep, we are about forty five miles from Rochelle and are supposed to get about six to eight inches of the white stuff before it ends early this evening…oh the joys of winter in the Midwest.
Without slowing down the refresh rate, the only solution for a larger image is more bandwidth at both the camera and the server. Bandwidth costs money, of course. I’ll not complain. It’s a lot better than nothing at all.
Putting lights on the crossing would be nice, but make note of the houses across the tracks. Even if you could get the city to put in some decent lights, I doubt the neighbors would appreciate them much.
…Are you saying {anyone}, the webcam out at the Mississippi River, can’t think of the city right now, is somehow different in the band width it uses, etc…For sure it did {or does, not sure if it’s still there}, have a larger picture. Thinking back of it, it refreshed about the speed the Rochelle unit used to. It now updates about each second.
It’s an excellent feature and great PR. However, the image resolution on the Rochelle cam would become poorer the larger it gets unless Trains wanted to invest in a better camera, which they probably wouldn’t want to do. The webcams that are out there with large, crisp images use more expensive equipment. I’m surprised the cam they have now hasn’t been broken by kids throwing rocks. I couldn’t imagine how long lights out there might last, but to have the area lit well enough at night would require quite a bit of power. Good PR is one thing, but throwing money away is another.
To do all of that they would have to close the camera to everyone but “cam subscribers” who would have to likely pay a prohibitively high amount to make the idea even feasible. Plus, I think part of the agreement with Rochelle was that the cam be free for everyone to enjoy.
If money were no object, I’d like another camera mounted on the building across the diamond. That way there would be coming and going from all directions.
One thing to note. The small images make it easy for me, on dialup, to view. If the images were bigger, they wouldn’t be able to load fast enough to remain “live.” Since almost everyone else on the internet uses higher speeds, the large images wouldn’t be a problem for them.
Here’s from above. That’s quite a parking lot.
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=41.920268&lon=-89.072857&z=18.3&r=0&src=msa
…That’s pretty neat…I never thought of using Flash Earth to view Rochelle. I have been using that image for some time now to view many areas and certain things and think it is a good site.
Can see the patio on the back of my home here. Have checked out the abandoned WM over the Alleghenies from Meyersdale, Pa. to Cumberland, Md. Took a while.
Edit update: Just took a look east and west {roughly}, along the rail lines in Rochelle…What a surprise to see all the massive plants of industry around that area…and what is that west of town…along the UP…Looks like a massive container distributor point…Looks to be extremely large. Never imagined all that industrial area was there.
Quentin, west of Rochelle you’re looking at our Global III intermodal facility.
Go east and you get a bunch of industries served by Rochelle’s own railway, including a cold storage plant and, to the far south, an ethanol facility. BNSF has a small yard in this area, and the oil facility nearly always has some BNSF fuel tank cars in it.
…Boy, Carl…that’s a large intermodal facility just west a ways of the diamond. And all the industry with spurs and quite a few with rail cars, etc…I was really surprised when I took a look around.
Went north and found quite a bit of residential filled areas.
That must be a pretty busy place for employment plus all the rail traffic thru town. Finally got to see what that big building one can view via the web cam really looks like…{in size}. Anyway, enjoyed looking around.
Looked on a map and figure Rochelle is about 250 miles from here by the way the crow flies. I see they have snow now and we don’t. Location…location…location. {Some times}.
Who owns the webcam anyway? Let’s ask them to see if an upgrade is available in the future.[dinner]
It sure looks like my old Dodge pickup on the east end of the lot. LOL
And that is the camera up there on the roof.
Brian(IA) Carl Spokyone
Basically, Kalmbach owns the camera, which the city has allowed them to install in their park. I’ve already asked, and the previous answers about bandwidth still apply.
This is it. Perhaps somebody will recognize the brand, etc.:
Kmart {Blue light Special}[#oops]
Not much we can tell by looking at the enclosure - those are usually made by a different vendor than the cameras.