Cameras Why can't I view the camera images? Most commonly what happens is the browser does not support .jpg type images. This has been seen with the browsers provided by Compuserve, AOL, Prodigy, and the Mosaic browser. At this time we do not have the capability to provide the images in a .gif format due to technical issues and performance reasons. A possible solution is to check with your provider to see if there is some way to use a browser such as Netscape. America Online has been reported to have a new version of "Winsock" that works with their system and allows the use of Netscape. This will ensure that you can view all the images that we provide here. Why do I see the same video snapshot (or color graphic map) repeatedly even though the date/time seems to change? You need to press "reload" in order to obtain the most current image. Netscape & other browsers will obtain a new html page containing an accurate date/time stamp, then display an old, cached, snapshot or graphic that has been stored on your hard disk. How can I tell which direction the video cameras are pointing? There is no easy way to identify the direction a camera is pointed. In our control room, we rely on the ability to pan/tilt/zoom the cameras at visual clues such as traffic signs, mountains and buildings. Because of this, our cameras are subject to be pointed in any direction when a snapshot is taken. The camera pan/tilt drives are not equipped with azimuth sensors which would indicate direction. We have a typical morning scheme & afternoon scheme which automatically sends all cameras to pre-set directions, but then the operators have full ability to change any & all settings. Generally speaking, these automatic settings keep the cameras pointed so that the heaviest traffic flow is oncoming or heading toward the camera. We have speculated about solutions for this problem and have discussed adding "skirts" with 8 or more directional indicators, painting directional indicators on the roadway or landscape and even adding a compass / prism assembly directly to the camera faceplates but none of these are acceptable to everybody involved and probably would be very costly. Can we read license plates and catch speeders with our video cameras and traffic sensors? No. Our video cameras are not capable of reading license plates on moving vehicles. We can read the license plate of a stopped vehicle: If we can see it's rear-end, and if it is not-too-far from or not-too-close to the camera, and if there is adequate, but not too much sunlight, and if we take the time to pan/tilt/zoom the camera, a slow process. The traffic sensor information is read every 20 seconds. This information includes average, minimum and maximum speeds of vehicles during the previous 20 seconds. Computer processing of this information takes an additional 10 seconds. There is no way for us to correlate maximum or average speeds of vehicles with the video information. We watch the same color graphic map you see on our website to quickly identify and clear traffic accidents and incidents. Do we record the video from our traffic cameras? Not regularly. We have four VCRs capable of recording real-time and lapsed-time video. Upon keyboard command these will record video from any selected camera. We only record video for traffic studies (vehicle counts, weaving movements), training purposes and exceptional circumstances. On occasion a limited amount of video is recorded when we suspect a crime is in progress or when a disabled vehicle or motorcycle is left on the highway. Is our video used for police surveillance or investigations? No.The only instances of police use of our video has been by the Secret Service when presidential motorcades have traversed through the I-10 deck tunnel. No mechanism is available to our operators to lock out Internet access to snapshots from the roadway video cameras. Snapshots are updated about every 8 minutes, as fast as a workstation can capture the images. At all times of the day and night, you see exactly what we are looking at. What are the video cameras used for? Identifying the exact location and circumstances of anything that affects highway traffic. We watch the color graphic map, the associated "incident detection algorithm" computer graphical alarms, and scan the wall of video monitors to find accidents or anything else that affects traffic on the freeway system. Less than 10% of the total mainline traffic lanes can be seen at any moment when you are looking at our wall of 32 large-screen monitors. When the color graphic map causes the operators to suspect a problem, they use the video cameras to spot the actual problem. Telephone, radio and pager calls are made to contact appropriate response personnel. Messages are placed on freeway signs based on what is seen on the video. To ensure accurate and timely messages during constantly changing freeway conditions they rely on continued monitoring of traffic flow with video cameras.