Google Adds Webcams to Maps

Of all the different ways of looking at the world online, personal webcams haven't received a lot of attention recently.  Many sites have allowed you to take a look at the view over a national park or a stunning coastline for years, though, and Google Maps now includes links to these webcams.

All sorts of views are available, from airport runways to famous monuments--not forgetting thousands of everyday scenes shared by anybody with a webcam and an Internet connection.  All over the world, tourist information offices have hooked up webcams to try and entice visitors to consider a visit to the area, and the website Webcams.travel has developed a large catalogue of such cameras.

It's their database which has now been built into Google Maps as a new layer, which can be turned on or off as you wish, just like those containing user photos, links to Wikipedia, or public transport lines in big towns.

Clicking on a webcam on the map gives you an immediate preview, along with a direct link to the site hosting the cam.  In theory Google updates the previews every fifteen minutes, but we noticed a few cameras that were a lot further behind.

And if you're worried that this new way of watching the world go by will provoke the same privacy concerns as Google Street View, there's no need to panic: the majority of the webcams on offer give low-resolution views over landscapes, so there's little chance of identifying individuals.