Trafficland.com offers an amazing array of live traffic camera views from around the world. With a few clicks you can access your country’s cameras (if Trafficland.com has a feed from your site). The situation began with traffic cameras in Northern Virginia, the day before the tragedy on September 11. Immediately, traffic cameras became invaluable as people sought to evacuate the area around the Pentagon. They could use local media to gather information about local conditions.
Using Trafficland.com is very easy. Simply visit trafficland.com using your computer, PDA, or web-enabled cell phone. Choose your country (by the way, the site offers cams from the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Denmark and New Zealand). Then select your city from the resulting list. An area map with known points holds the position. Move your mouse over the purple dots on the paper. As you move your mouse over, the name of the traffic camera will appear. For example, if you choose Greensboro, NC, USA and the point where I-40 and Highway 68 meet, the name “I40 NC68” appears. By clicking on it, camera loads and current traffic conditions are shown.
It does little to make the mouse focus on the purple dots. As you look at the card, your cursor changes to the hand. When you are at the exact middle point, the hand changes to the tip of the finger. Sometimes something like the center isn’t what the computer wants, and you’ll have to look for that precise spot, moving your mouse ever so carefully.
When you select a camera, the image loads to the left. Weatherbug locates the current conditions at the bottom right. Of course, there is a lot of advertising – but its placement is neither offensive nor overly scornful. If you really hate ads, consider paying for a premium membership that removes them.
Expanding the map does not expand the points, but provides additional information that is extremely useful. On the left panel is a slide very similar to a popular online panel. Move to the smaller side and zoom out to a wider area. Move to the plus side and the map moves in to street level. You can click and drag the paper to move it. Embankments are sometimes marked with directions, such as one way streets and difficult traffic. Since many city centers only have one-way streets, this feature will help you find your way. The only downfall is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to email. You need to zoom out to find your area, then zoom back in and scroll to the path you want to see.
Another very useful feature is the ability to toggle from a stratified map to a hybrid satellite (imaginary satellites with stratified names). First, if you’ve never been to the area, you’ll be able to feel what it’s like when you look there. You can even determine the location of the parking lot! And since satellite images aren’t “real time”, you won’t be able to tell how busy things are out there – you’ll have to rely on the traffic cameras!
Trafficland.com offers another invaluable feature as registered users. Simply click the register link on the right above from the trafficland.com protocol. Signup is quick and simple. Users can save their “favorite” traffic cameras. With just a few clicks before your exchange, you can be sure to move the business in a good clip, and even consider an alternative route if there are snags.
Premium users get even more perks. Trafficland.com offers a free 30-day trial, and after that you pay just $5.95 per month. With commercial rewards, ads disappear and users can create more views on cameras. Mobile users can watch live camera views and cameras for five minutes without getting bored (the free version seems to be 30 seconds, which is still very useful for determining traffic conditions).
Another interesting feature is found at the very bottom of the page. Click on the link called “Gallery”. There are three segments in the gallery, traffic, weather, and accidents. Traffic cameras will collect some amazing footage and stories as they happen.
Trafficland.com also serves the media, transit and emergency services authorities with multiple camera views and expanded information through the subscriber system. Many publishers and media outlets, such as the Washington Post, rely on Trafficland.com to provide up-to-the-minute traffic data. All of these services are offered securely over private networks. The business also accepts city and government contracts to upgrade and integrate their commercial cams.
Can Trafficland.com survive in today’s turbulent online market? In short, even. Their business model has allowed them to grow quickly – but not too quickly – and to gain acceptance among state and local governments and the media. Cities depend on Trafficland.com for emergency information – and as a result, so does the public (whether they know it or not). Venture capitalists were liberal, and the US Attorney General John Ashcroft’s company was lobbying. As revenues and sales of products sold to consumers, media outlets, local governments, and government agencies continue to grow, so will star marketing opportunities on the Internet.
