Virtual Deputies

Virtual Deputies is a new private/public program through the The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition and BlueServo. In the past several months a network of surveillance cameras have been set up along the Texas/Mexico border. Now in the comfort of your own home, people can log in to the site and partake in the act of spotting illegal aliens with real surveillance video. Operating 24/7, the greater public can now survey and report directly to the Coalition any suspecious activies.

Groups can also form to turn the cameras on their own communities with the local Virtual Neighborhood Watches...

Photo City

photosynth link

Not only does the rapid presence of cell phones with camera and video technology help disclose spontaneous acts of something-whatevers occurring all over the world, but new technology's are actually conceiving of new perspectives cities created by those inhabiting them.

Geotagging uses a digital application via cellular triangulation and GPS to encode photos for unlimited possibilities in how we store and view our media. Image anyone with a camera can participate in taking a perspective (photo) of our built (and unbuilt) world, and uploading it to a database for all the world to see.

How can an open system of site positioning urban surveillance serve? How does a database for time, history and perspective of place reevaluate our understanding of identity, culture, geography? and what impact does a "virtual" database of place (accessible thru such devices as iphones and pda's) have on reality?

Additional applications:

ATP Photo Finder
HoudahGeo
Merax Photo Finder
Pharos Tip
Amod AGL3080
Flickr