With only a 14,400k connection to the Internet, you can travel from your desktop to the Acropolis in 4.3 seconds. The fusion of Internet technology and travel has created a new mode of tourism. Webcams—digital cameras that supply live images on the Internet—provide real-time visual information from far away, which can go a long way toward satisfying deskbound explorers.

Webcams are “the obvious step in satisfying people’s need for information,” says Brian Cury, founder of New Jersey-based EarthCam. The former filmmaker operates one of the largest networks of cam links on the Internet, with more than 5,000 cams. Each day his site receives over two million page views. Not only do Webcams “take people places they might never get a chance to go,” Cury says, “they allow travelers to use visual information to make travel decisions.”

With Webcams, you can check the traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel or find out whether a beach is crowded or ski conditions are good. When Tim Johnson, a physicist vacationing in Portland, Oregon, was arranging a hiking trip to Mount St. Helens, he logged on to a weather cam with a view of the peak, only to discover that it was fogged in. “If you go to the mountain, you want to see a view,” he says. Johnson went to the beach instead.

EarthCam’s Cury stresses that visual information crosses all language barriers, “empowering people to explore the world and expand consciousness” of other cultures. As wireless technology proliferates, such information will be available in your car, on your PalmPilot, or via Internet video phone. Webcam images may someday be projected onto other surfaces—a form of live wallpaper that would allow diners in a restaurant, for instance, to immerse themselves in the sense of place without actually being there. Live sound, however, is unlikely to accompany these images due to privacy laws.

For several months last summer, during the annual salmon run, the National Geographic Society hosted Bearcam. A waterproof video camera was hidden amid brush on a rock overlooking Alaska’s McNeil River, where brown bears were hunting. Bearcam allowed access to a remote location limited to only ten actual (versus virtual) visitors per day.

Though the bears are hibernating now and the site is down, producer Paula Willard still gets e-mail from viewers who miss the site, which hosted 77,000 individual users during its two-month run. Willard sees Webcams as a unique educational tool, a way to see the world and tread lightly at the same time. “You can’t take a kindergarten class to Alaska to watch bears fish, or even take bears to school,” she points out. John Westlund, program coordinator for the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, explains, “Given the limited access, this is our only other option to provide the world an opportunity to see what happens here.” Willard is currently planning to set up additional wildlife Webcams during migratory or feeding periods.

EarthCam’s most popular site is its exclusive camera from the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository, the so-called “sniper’s perch” overlooking President John F. Kennedy’s Dallas motorcade route. On a typical tour, museum visitors can’t get close to the window; it’s encased in glass.

World-watching
Go on a virtual Grand Tour by logging on to the following sites:
• Take a cruise through exotic ports from the bridges of Princess ships.
• Watch the San Diego Zoo’s newest giant panda—too young for public viewing—cuddling with mom in its nest.
• Ride with a cabbie through the streets of New York.
• Go on a virtual safari of South African game parks.
• Take in a satellite view of the Earth.
• See diners wolfing down peach pie at the classic White Mana diner in Jersey City.
• Window-shop from afar with this camera trained on the window display at Bloomingdale’s 59th Street New York flagship store during the Christmas season.
• Watch the leaves change nationwide during fall foliage season.
• Find out if it’s snowing at ski slopes worldwide.
• Search for more cams at portal sites such as http://www.steveweb.com/80clicks, http://www.gates96.com, http://www.camcities.com, or http://www.webcamania.com.