web cam for kerry

Kerrysurf

Hey i am trying to get a live web cam setup for the castlegrgory/inch area so we can get a accurate forecast. Need to find out how much it costs to set it up etc... any help would be much appreciated.

cheers

Low Pockets

Why?

Are the myriad of forecasting sites not enough?

Kerrysurf

For a number of reasons 1.The surf forecast is rarely accurate, i am living down in castrlegregory and i'm out to the beach nearly every day. Magicseaweed is right bout 50ish% of the time. 2.there is web cams in clare, sligo, cork and waterford and not one in kerry where the surf is as good if not better than further north.

trad

Have a look at

www.camstreams.com/

They host webcams for free.

Kerrysurf

what i was thinking was something along the lines of a outdoor weather station with a web cam and wi-fi or connected into someones network as i don't live right by the sea and get the info and images sent back to my comp where i can put them up on a website......... need to ask around see if anyone down by dumps/spillanes has good internet

PCPhoto

correct me if I'm wrong but you want to use someone elses internet to create a website for yourself..... good luck with that !!

money talks !!

kodute

If I lived by the sea and you asked me to put a camera near my house and use my internet to stream a webcam for your own site...I'd tell you where to go and then go and do it myself!

trad

Are you looking for something like this?

http://www.islandbawn.com/weather.html

Kerrysurf

Yup thats the one trad thats the sort of thing i need :-) i don't want abuse someones internet - i will design and host the website myself all i need is a way to send the information from the weather station/ webcam to my computer so i can put it up online. I think some of the stations might come with wi-fi routers that will stream the info back to a host computer but i have to look into it. now its just a matter of scroungin the pennies together to get it.....

Low Pockets

Sorry this must seem a little dumb but why again?

If you learn to read what weather bouys are saying instead of stars on magic sea weed you'll find you get pretty good at predicting surf, especially as you've said when your living in castle and go out everyday. It should be no problem to compare the data off the bouys to what actually turns up on the beach (a integral aspect of learning to surf)

And in regards other counties having web cams, did your mother never tell you not to jump off a bridge just because all your friends are? Any web cam I can think of can be traced back to monetry gain. Why follow in the mistakes of other counties? And if you really feel the surf is that much better then (a) try travell north a bit more, you'll really be amazed at what you find (b) keep it quite, surf is only good to a saturation point

Edit: sorry in regards my first point, try keeping a surflog, really helps to compare what certain conditions turned up on a local beach.

neon_glows

The harsh reality of running a webcam is that it is alot of hard work, its not as simple as walking off and leaving it there and it totally ties up the internet connection.

If you are using this to promote your business i think you will find this wont be a big help, i get alot of hits on my webcam and have tried to get the cost of setting it up back by turning these visitors into sales, but it doesnt work.

You will find that there are some of your local surfers who have businesses and maybe willing to donate a small amount in return for possibly a little advert.

If you want a solid setup you will need an IP Network Camera (decent one id recommend this: http://www.networkwebcams.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=35&products_id=963 ), a decent modem (not a crappy free one from ISP) and a fast internet connection (id recommend a 6mb connection). You can setup a cam cheaper than this but its what id recommend to you.

The best thing you could do for your customers is do a daily written surf report on twitter or something like that... would help you alot more than a webcam.

Cecil Mor

Try posting this on another Irish surfing forum, I'd be interested to read the responses from actual surfers to your great & wonderful idea!!

OldGuysRule

You must love company in the water. Setting up a webcam will only attract even more people on better days. Madness