EarthCam

History

Brian Cury, CEO and founder of EarthCam, Inc., launched EarthCam.com in 1996 with a mission to build a network of webcams offering views of unique and popular destinations throughout the world. The site quickly became a place "Where the World Watches the World", offering visitors internationally access to thousands of webcams.

As the company grew, EarthCam expanded beyond building its network of tourism cameras and extended its reach into other industries by developing and delivering technology for many applications in verticals including construction, transportation, and surveillance. With that concept came the creation of EarthCam.net, a site for businesses and organizations to purchase webcams and EarthCam's proprietary software to manage their camera networks.

EarthCam and other live webcam services have resulted in a huge impact upon entertainment and business, allowing for online "travel," meetings, and easy access to knowledge.

In May 2015, EarthCam announced that it had chosen Davis Brody Bond - Architect of the 9/11 Memorial Museum - to design its new 10 acre campus in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Websites

Expanding beyond the pages of its flagship site, EarthCam.com, EarthCam's network of websites has grown to include EarthCam.net, WebCamStore.com, and EarthCamMobile.com, which cater to both consumers and professionals. Mobile applications for accessing EarthCam's live webcams and for clients to control their private cameras are available for Apple Inc. or Android (operating system) Devices.

EarthCam.com is a network of scenic webcams offering a complete searchable database of views of interesting and iconic places around the world. In 1999 it was claimed 20 people per day were adding their webcams to the website. In 2006 the website was a Webby Award Winner in the Tourism category. It is viewed by fans in 192 countries and ranks among the top 1% of all websites, according to Alexa.com.

One of the first highly publicized events that EarthCam produced, labeled "Webcast of the Century", featured celebrations from around the world at the turn of the new millennium on New Year's Eve 1999 / New Year's Day 2000. 100 cameras were located across the world, taking pictures every 30 seconds, viewed using an interactive world map on EarthCam.com.

EarthCam has built a reputation for creating opportunities for viewers to experience events without leaving their homes. Whether it's a webcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, Mardi Gras from New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street or visiting the giraffes at Greenville Zoo, EarthCam brings viewers to each location through their live webcams.

Virtual travel also becomes possible with webcams located at major worldwide tourist attractions such as London's Abbey Road, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach, Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign".

By visiting EarthCam, viewers have the capability to see historical places and landmarks around the world, especially in the US. EarthCam cameras located at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington DC, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA, Seattle's Space Needle, Wall Street's notable Charging Bull and more deliver unique views, both live and archived. The archived images can be edited together to produce time-lapse videos such as the Ground Zero 10 year time-lapse which was created from images captured at the site from September 2001 through September 2011.

In October 2011 EarthCam built and installed the 'TorchCams', custom camera systems that generate live video and widescreen images, giving visitors panoramic views from the Statue of Liberty torch, the location that has been closed to the public since 1916. The five cameras were donated to the National Park Service by EarthCam, Inc.

To ring in the new year in 2017, EarthCam installed 4K live streaming video cameras in Times Square in order to broadcast the first-ever 4K stream of the Times Square celebration live on YouTube. Throughout the years, EarthCam’s streaming video quality has continually evolved to deliver high-quality webcam content, from still jpeg images updating once every 60 seconds in 1996 to full 4K ultra-high definition streaming video today.

EarthCam.net provides live streaming video, megapixel, wireless and solar powered camera systems, along with managed services, for corporate clients and government agencies worldwide, including the General Services Administration (GSA). Powered by EarthCam's Control Center 8 webcam management service that is delivered as a user controllable SaaS (Software as a Service) interface, EarthCam's professional webcam technology solutions are utilized to view, document, and promote projects. Additional advanced imaging technology services are offered including gigapixel images and most recently, EarthCamAir, aerial photography which combines EarthCam’s webcam technology with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) services to produce geospatial images.

Projects documented by EarthCam