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Thread ID: 97859 2009-03-02 05:06:00 Website. pine-o-cleen (2955) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
752663 2009-03-02 07:20:00 I suggest you tackle the harder parts first:

- figure out how to reliably and programatically take snaps from a webcam

- similarly for the weather station: or when choosing one the key feature you require (apart from it working reliably) is friendly data export, text file would be ok, xml file format would be better

Also, where are you sourcing the additional weather/tidal info from?
I think the metservice charge for a webservice like access, or you could screen-scrape from somewhere.

Was there any mention of a budget for your friends project?
dyewitness (9398)
752664 2009-03-02 07:30:00 Not sure how much money he wants to put into it, broadband is available where his batch is. He has a telephone pole and getting a camera isn't hard. I install CCTV as part of my job.

I was thinking a PC at the batch running all the time connected to a camera either via a capture card or an IP camera. Broadband internet to link to the web server.
pine-o-cleen (2955)
752665 2009-03-02 07:33:00 so the setup is pretty much there just needs some scripting

il look into it for you if you like and get more of an idea in the effort invloved
hueybot3000 (3646)
752666 2009-03-02 07:34:00 I suggest you tackle the harder parts first:

- figure out how to reliably and programatically take snaps from a webcam

- similarly for the weather station: or when choosing one the key feature you require (apart from it working reliably) is friendly data export, text file would be ok, xml file format would be better

Also, where are you sourcing the additional weather/tidal info from?
I think the metservice charge for a webservice like access, or you could screen-scrape from somewhere.

Was there any mention of a budget for your friends project?
No budget atm. I was interested in this project just because I thought it would be fun!

As I said, it's all ideas at the moment. I'm guessing a 'screen-scrape' means to "borrow" info posted from another website?
pine-o-cleen (2955)
752667 2009-03-02 07:43:00 Agreed it does sound like an interesting little project.

Yeah "borrow" from other websites, or just had a look at the Metservices site and they charge between $10-$40 per day for accessing their data (marine, tidal, short forecast etc).

So you are pretty much close to a point of getting some ballpark figures together:
- cost of the CCTV (you're the expect)
- cheap PC to retrieve the snaps
- broadband access (though from what you described dialup would probably suffice, given the frequency of updating data)
- cost of a little weather station (?? have a look on DSE, or somewhere more specialised)
- additional marine data, Metservice at $10-$40 per day
- webste hosting/domain name
- your time to integrate it at $X/per hour ;)
dyewitness (9398)
752668 2009-03-02 08:04:00 CCTV - cable, fittings, power supply, housing and zoom camera= ~$200 (at my prices ;))
Cheap PC - What is needed here? Just saw the price of IP cameras (way too high), so needs a capture card.
Dial up - $20/ month
Weather station - Only one with a PC link on DSE site is $400 :| Anyone know of a cheaper one?
- Metservice data.....not at the moment.
- Website domain ~$40 / year
- Hosting - What would be needed here?
- My time, free! It's entertainment for me :D
pine-o-cleen (2955)
752669 2009-03-02 08:30:00 It would be much more popular if it showed girls in their bikinis walking along the beach ! Digby (677)
752670 2009-03-02 08:33:00 I guess it will, if there are any. pine-o-cleen (2955)
752671 2009-03-02 08:37:00 If you're gonna run the webcam on an old box, just chuck the small and free app Yawcam (http://www.yawcam.com/) on it and it'll stream to your web server for you. Lots of options, worth a look. sal (67)
752672 2009-03-02 22:51:00 Be careful about following suggestions of buying MetService data and then posting it on your website for others to read for free. I'm sure their terms and conditions wouldn't allow you to do this. Reposting their publicly funded data may be ok. AvonBill (11358)
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