RIVER LEVEL WEB CAM, SLENINGFORD WATERMILL

[go2h2o]

HI EVERYONE,
AT LONG LAST THE RIVER CAM HAS GONE LIVE !!!!!!!!!!!!
JUST LOG ONTO WEBSITE www.go2h2o.co.uk
CLICK ON CAMERA ON HOME PAGE AND ENTER USER USER AND CHECK
OUT WATER LEVEL !!!!
YOU WILL NEED ACTIVIX DOWN LOAD IF YOU ALLREADY DONT HAVE THIS, IT ONLY TAKES A COUPLE OS MINS.

[pwilkinson]

Awesome, good work guys.

[Mike M]

This is the news I've waited my whole paddling life for !! Absolutely brilliant no more fruitless trips !!

(Is it meant to be showing a picture of the shop or am I doing something wrong ? )

[thustler]

Same here?

[geyrfugl]

Nice. A blank white frame.

ActiveX may only take a couple of minutes to download, but is
presumably of no earthly use to anyone not running Windows,
or Internet Explorer ? A significant, and growing minority maybe,
but that's still gratuitous discrimination.

Come on guys, don't lose the plot, there are people out here using
Mac OS-X, Solaris, Linux, <Open|Free|Net>BSD and so on and so forth.
Can we have a webcam that gives a picture in standards-compliant
browsers on any software or hardware platform please ?

Ah, maybe it's just a particularly perverse and counter-intuitive user
interface. If I click on 'Snapshot' I get another window with a picture.
Of the buildings ...
I presume the camera gets pointed at the river occasionally ? But
what is supposed to be in the big white space in the main window ?
Are these Pan/Tilt/Zoom controls meant to be available to end-users
across the net ?

Andy

[David Hepworth]

The camera shows the shop when John is away from the site for security reasons, during the day it shows the river with the pyranha level indicator (patent pending I believe).

[geyrfugl]

You're implying that potential thieves can tell whether there is anyone
looking after the shop simply by checking where the camera is pointing,
and that's supposed to enhance security ?? That's the sort of muddy
thinking I'd expect from people who think they only need to support
Microsoft users ...

Surely it would be sensible to have a different camera, not publicly
accessible, to monitor the shop ?

Andy

[pwilkinson]

The camera shows the shop when John is away from the site for security reasons, during the day it shows the river with the pyranha level indicator (patent pending I believe).

I guess I'll have to keep calling the campsite shop on mondays, tuesdays and in the mornings then.

[David Hepworth]

Not my fault, I'm only repeating what I was told by John. I had the same response.

[Mike M]

Still.......better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick !!

It's already added to my favourites and I will look forward to making use of it soon.

Cheers for setting it up John

[go2h2o]

THANKS GUYS FOR POSITIVE FEEDBACK SO FAR, REMEMBER THIS IS A FREE SERVICE I AM PROVIDING AND I KNEW IT WOULD NOT SUIT EVERYBODY, BUT I AM TRYING.
THE CAMERA HAS NOW BEEN PROGRAMMED TO LOOK AT THE RIVER
24 HRS A DAYS 7 DAYS A WEEK !!!!
IF ANY BODY ELSE WANTS TO SET UP A FREE RIVER WEB CAM SERVICE
JUST REMEMBER YOU WILL NEED DEEP POCKETS (APPROX 3K)
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO RING ME I WILL GIVE DETAILS OF COMPANY WHO SUPPLIED HARWARE !!

CHEERS JOHN, go2h2o.

[Bladerunner]

I've been looking at theis site for a while now, but have decided to register so I can add my comments to this topic.

Firstly, Brilliant idea! Great shots of the river & even a kayak to indicate the level! And its FREE! - yes, FREE! All at GO2H2O should be applauded for putting this service together.

Secondly, I'm sure as with any new service there will be slight teething problems - 99% of the time they will be out of the shops control.

Thirdly, 'Gayrfugl' - what is your problem? Someone puts a FREE service on their website and it's not good enough for you? It is not the fault of GO2H2O if your Sinclair Commodor isn't good enough to view the picture, everybody else is managing. Quite frankly, with your kind of attitude you'd be better off staying in Barnard Castle anyway! Clown!

[go2h2o]

cheers for that bladerunner,
was it you who bought an m3 off us last month ?????

[Bladerunner]

That was it.

Great shop and superb service!

Cheers

[das bump]

Sorry, why doesnt the camera just look at the concrete jetty all the time as this is the best way to tell the river level? Just checked now and its pointing at some rocks near the water, which doesnt tell us much about the level. Could it not face the gauge?

Just my thoughts, thanks for the service

George

[Bladerunner]

The fact that you can actually see the rocks and the concrete jetty, (this isn't a jetty by the way), means that the river level is really low - normally they are under water!

You can tell the height of the river by the level of the boat - the post is in several colours to aid identification.

[David Hepworth]

If you use the digital zoom option you can see the colours on the pole and work out the levels from that.

[geyrfugl]

Thirdly, 'Gayrfugl' - what is your problem? Someone puts a FREE service on their website and it's not good enough for you?

Like many people, I participate in various campaigns, and raising
awareness of issues is one aspect of most of those campaigns. When
people choose to provide a service, free or otherwise, I'm sure they
want to be appreciated and for everyone to be able to use their service.
I'm sure that having a free webcam indicating the level of the Ure at
Sleningford will attract more visitors (and customers), so it is pure
enlightened self-interest to provide this service. If it has cost him £3k
to set up, I'm sure he expects some return on that investment. I still
applaud that, as I will find it useful.

One particular issue on which I seek to raise awareness is the one of
software choice. It is all too easy for people, particularly if they are not
themselves into software, to simply take at face value what they are told
by their service provider, or to assume that because everyone they know
uses Windows, that there is no issue for people who don't. The
assumption that everyone can have ActiveX controls simply by
downloading a bit of software is such a wrong assumption. If no-one
points this out, how would the guy know that he was not getting his
service through to everyone ? How would only reaching a fraction of his
potential audience be to his benefit ? Why would he resent constructive
criticism pointing out how he could make his service more useful to a
wider audience ?

As I would most often find it useful midweek, I do need also to point
out that it is not so useful if it only runs part of the time. Perhaps also he
had overlooked the security implications of a camera direction indicating
to potential thieves that there was no-one guarding the shop, and that if
curing this defect enhances the service for paddlers, why would I not
draw his attention to it ?

If I see a problem with his service, then it is not just that I don't benefit
as much from it, but he doesn't benefit as much from it. It is EVERYONE'S
problem. In that situation it would be quite irresponsible and antisocial
of me not to draw attention to these issues.

Andy

[Yorkshire Outdoors]

Well all I can say is well done John for firstly the initiatave and the commitment to a lot of expense for setting it up to provide a FREE service to paddlers.

I did not have any problem downloading the software and I am sure that most people that run Window's (which seems to be the majority of people these days) would not have a problem.

I am jealous that we are not as fortunate to have a very nice riverside site to work from :-(

But don't worry we will be looking at the webcam and shutting our shop and coming to pay you a visit when the levels are right so you had better get the kettle on!!

Cheers Graeme

[geyrfugl]

Actually, I'm intrigued that it cost as much as £3k, that seems about two
orders of magnitude too much, but I presume it includes the cost of a
PC to host the system ? Does go2h20 also have to have a dedicated fat
pipe to the net ? The webcam, whilst a diabolically low resolution, does
have a phenomenal update rate, so maybe upstream ADSL is not fat
enough for the bandwidth requirement ?

Andy

[Wilf]

Well done John for supporting the local paddlers!

[Mike M]

Home early from work yesterday.Checked "new" web cam which showed the level's to be "good to go" and ended up having a fantastic couple of hours playing around at the campsite.

Without the web cam pics I probably would n't have bothered - really really useful so once again many thanks !

[pas]

is this still working as I cant find it on the site ??

ta

Paul