Opportunities and Challenges of Global Network Cameras

Since the introduction of consumer digital cameras, user-created multimedia content has become increasingly popular. Digital cameras, together with inexpensive editing tools, and free hosting sites have made multimedia an integral part of everyday life. Today, hundreds of hours video are uploaded to hosting sites every minute. Video-on-demand through wireless networks and smartphones have profoundly changed how people consume multimedia content. Meanwhile, the widely deployed network cameras can provide live views of many parts of the world. These cameras can provide rich sources creating multimedia content. This panel will explore the opportunities and discuss the challenges using global network cameras for creating multimedia contents and understanding the world. Every year, millions of network cameras are deployed. The data from some of these network cameras are publicly available, continuously streaming live views of national parks, city halls, streets, highways, and shopping malls. A person may see multiple tourist attractions through these cameras, without leaving home. Researchers may observe the weather in different cities. Using the data from the cameras, it is possible to observe natural disasters, such as volcano eruption or tsunami, at a safe distance. News reporters may obtain instant views of an unfolding riot without risking their lives. A spectator may watch a celebration parade from multiple locations using the street cameras. Despite the many promising applications, the opportunities of using global network cameras for creating multimedia content have not been fully exploited.