Halifax Webcam

Cable Wharf

2008-11-17T13:26:00.003-04:00

We had to remove the camera at Cable Wharf because the building is going to be renovated. The camera will be back in spring.

In the meantime I am looking for some other nice places in and around Halifax. Let me know if you know cool spots I could take into consideration.

Only four left :-(

2007-09-10T08:46:00.000-03:00

Friday night the network connection for the cameras at Alderney Gate was interrupted. A remote restart of the wireless modem wasn't successful. This means I have to go on the roof once again to check which part of the system failed... most likely the router. The problem should be fixed by Wednesday, September 12th.

Chebucto Head offline

2007-09-10T08:41:00.000-03:00

I had to take the Chebucto Head camera offline since the building where it was attached to has been sold. Currently I am looking for a new location either at Chebucto Head or somewhere else. It will take some weeks to have it up again since I am very busy with my main business at the moment (which is good in general). Thanks for all the feedback I got the last few days and thanks for your patience.

Parade of Fail

2007-07-17T10:40:00.000-03:00

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry!

Thousands of people wanted to watch the Parade of Sail with our cameras yesterday but only a part of them was able to. Our server ran at 100% server load almost all the time until the evening.

The server logfile shows 5.5 million hits from about 100,000 different IP addresses just yesterday. We sent out more than 240 GB of data in one day. That's the traffic of almost two normal weeks in less than 12 hours.

So, it was more a Parade of Fail than a Parade of Sail for us.

But I am sure... the next Tall Ship Festival we are prepared!

Here are some time-lapse videos from our cams from July 16th. It's not as nice as watching the Parade live but better than nothing ;-)

Chebucto Head Camera will be back soon

2007-07-07T10:44:00.000-03:00

Thank you all for your emails regarding the Chebucto Head Lighthouse camera. It seems to be a very popular view.
So, what happened? The router which connects the camera to the internet broke and must be replaced. This will happen begin of next week and we expect to have live images from Chebucto Head by Tuesday or Wednesday. Just in time to watch all the Tall Ships going to arrive soon in Halifax.
Stay tuned for some more exciting news coming up the next few days!

Do you like fish?

2007-06-01T22:30:00.000-03:00

Today, I want to introduce another interesting webcam to you. Not directly related to Halifax but some kind related to halifaxwebcam.ca.

In cooperation with two partners in the Netherlands and on the Netherlands Antilles we launched our first MOBOTIX underwater webcam a few hours ago.

You can find it here: http://www.breathebonaire.com

The underwater camera is placed at a depth of 15 meters on the drop off of a diving site on the west coast of Bonaire in the Caribbean. It is showing the colorful caribbean marine life... corals, lots of fishes and sometimes divers... please do not feed them! ;-)

I hope you'll enjoy this website as well.

Chebucto Head Lighthouse

2007-03-26T22:06:00.000-03:00

Thanks to Todd, one of our webcam viewers, we were able to install our sixth webcam for Halifax about one week ago. The MOBOTIX M22 with 65mm lens is mounted on a cottage near Duncan's Cove. It offers breathtaking views of Chebucto Head Lighthouse.

Almost all ship traffic to and from Halifax is passing this location in a few hundred feet distance. Watch fishing boats, container vessels and cruise ships before they actually reach the harbour.

Thank you to all who already sent feedback about the new spot. I like this one very much:

"As one of the Halifax Hbr pilots who climb and board ships at this location, this new camera site is probably one of the best I've yet seen. Not only does it give you a fabulous view, it shows the current weather and sea conditions at Chebucto Hd and the transiting outbound and inbound vessels."

Smell the Sea

2006-11-04T00:11:00.000-04:00

Name: annie
Age: 75
Location: Mississauga, Ontario
Country: Canada

Just have to tell you that the webcams set in Halifax are beyond wonderful. I go there every morning to see the harbour, the weather, and to almost smell the sea. Ifyou had cams like this in Amsterdam harbour, I would be in Seventh Heaven!

You are providing so much pleasure, I can't begin to thank you enough.

Thank you so much, Annie! I will think about Amsterdam - another wonderful city on the water.

Halloween

2006-11-03T18:55:00.000-04:00

2006-08-25T01:02:00.000-03:00

Timelapse Camera 2 2006-08-24

I do currently some tests with timelapse video from the webcams. Here is the first.

What a sunset

2006-08-16T21:10:00.000-03:00

Isn't it beautiful? I like these evening shots... You too?

Webserver down

2006-07-30T23:13:00.000-03:00

Sunday afternoon we got the message that our server is down. After some research we found out that the server itself is up and running but the network in the data center has a problem.

We are waiting for more information right now and hope to get this fixed soon.

Thank you for your understanding.

Ralf

The fifth camera

2006-07-17T21:54:00.000-03:00

Today we installed our fifth camera at the Cable Wharf. Many thanks to Murphy's on the Water!

The cam shows the boardwalk between Cable Wharf and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantik with some interesting views of tall ships and tourists.

Enjoy!

Proud to be ...

2006-06-28T20:25:00.000-03:00

Bacardi finds our cameras good enough to mention www.halifaxwebcam.ca on their promotion blog www.betterthanbeer.com. Makes me a little bit proud... and I really don't mind if they'd send me a bottle for testing. Cheers! ;-)

Multi Cultural Festival

2006-06-17T06:33:00.000-03:00

This weekend on camera 3 or live at Alderney Landing in Dartmouth. Highly recommended!

The camera will be re-adjusted to the bridge after the festival.

Live Weather

2006-05-27T11:08:00.000-03:00

Do you have a sailboat? Then check out our new live weather station on camera 2 before you are heading out of the marina! Ok, owner of motor boats can do the same ;-)

All relevant weather information like wind speed and direction, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity and the amount of daily rain is updated every 2.5 seconds and is displayed in the lower part of the camera image.

We are using a semi-professional weather station from Davis Instruments, the VantagePro2 Plus with UV and solar sensor. If you are interested in a weather station for your own home let me know.

The weather station's data logger communicates directly via the serial interface with the MOBOTIX M10 network camera. There is no other equipment (like a PC) involved. Pretty straight forward...

Cameras 3 and 4

2006-05-26T18:31:00.000-03:00

Most of you have probably seen our latest addition. Apart from the re-installed camera 3 for the MacDonald Bridge we installed a fourth camera about 30 kilometers south of Halifax at Bald Rock.

The camera is overlooking Sambro Harbour in westerly direction. Just in case you want to go to Crystal Crescent Beach... this is a perfect view the see the weather conditions there. It could be a little bit foggy sometimes when you already get sun-burned in Halifax.

It is not sure if this camera will be permanent at this place. Maybe I find a better spot with a bit more traffic.

Incredible

2006-05-22T18:40:00.000-03:00

Thank you for all you feedback. Even if I am not able to respond to each and every email I appreciate your comments and suggestions.

As of today, almost 1,400 emails arrived since the camera went online in September 2005. I would say 99.9% are positive and encouraging to extend the webcam network in the future.

I am only wondering what the 0.1% of the visitors think when they send me their feedback. Just to remember: I do all the work volontarily and I have no obligation to do it. This website and the cameras are more a hobby than a service. Obviously, other webcam operators enjoy similiar feedback. Look here.

Some examples? Here they are:

"I noticed the camera's have been updated for the worse, where I used to refer this website to many for a great view of halifax harbour (as I work in a call center for US res 'where are you" "oh I'm in hafliax" etc), unfortunately the picture has degraded and actually makes the city look dull and worse then before the update. This is only because of the darkened city scape in the day time which seems to be a simple contrast problem. Anways, I was just disappointed and wanted to mention it, since I now don't refer people to this website for a quick look at halifax."

Funny, eh?

"You need better quality equipment that doesn't break down"

Oh, I see, you know what you are talking about! Any suggestions?

"Why are your camera views dissappearing? First the McDonald bridge and now the harbour entrance. Whassup?"

Whassup? Sorry, did I take your toy?

Ok, enough. I have to admit I really like reading all the emails. Keep writing, I am going to bring the two cameras back online next week. Promised.

Camera Killer

2006-05-17T20:22:00.000-03:00

Yesterday evening we had a really bad thunderstorm here around Halifax. It lasted for at least three hours. Result at the end? One camera and the power supply died. Shit happens.

The picture here is the last transmitted image before all three cameras went offline at 9:08 p.m. It was taken by camera 1 (entrance to the harbour) and it is pretty bright for that time of the day, isn't it? I was very anxious to get on the roof as early as possible the next morning to see what happened.

There were not obvious damages on the cameras or the other equipment. Looks like power surge. I don't know why the other two cameras and the router are still working but I am happy that they are. Otherwise this project is going to be too expensive and I have to look for cheaper hobbies.

New parts are already ordered and will arrive begin of next week.

I don't need thunderstorms anymore...

That's what it looks like

2006-05-15T21:14:00.000-03:00

We are on the 7th floor of Alderney Gate in Dartmouth. Our installation consists of three MOBOTIX M10 cameras on a non-penetrating roof mount connected to a Linksys router (in the grey weatherproof box). The internet connection is provided by AirFire, a local internet provider. They use the Motorola Canopy system to distribute wireless high-speed internet to their customers.

The MOBOTIX cameras are weatherproof without additional housing or heating.

Everything is remote configurable and low maintenance. Life can be so easy.

Cruise Ship Season

2006-05-15T15:23:00.000-03:00

Since last week, cruise ships come to Halifax again on a regular basis. They arrive normally between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. and leave in the late afternoon. Camera 2 shows the cruise ship piers 20 to 22 on the left.

The Cruise Ship Schedule is published on the Port Authority's website at http://www.portofhalifax.ca/AbsPage.aspx?id=1016&siteid=1&lang=1

Here we are!

2006-05-15T14:47:00.000-03:00

After some weeks without live camera from Halifax harbour our three new cameras are online. Thanks to Peter Kelly, Mayor of HRM and his team we were able to install our webcams on top of Alderney Gate in Dartmouth. The three cameras cover major parts of the harbour south of MacDonald bridge.

As I can see in all the emails I receive, 99% of the visitors like the new setting. No question, the old location on 99 Wyse Road was more an overview than the new spot. But it was also very affected by fog and heavy rainfall when we still get good images on Alderney Gate.

Over the next weeks you will find more information on halifaxwebcam.ca here.

Cheers

Ralf