For those not able to go to Morrison's Grand Reopening...

[DogHouseDiver]

Yeah, I meant "close enough to see the hole" not hovering right over it blocking the view. My bust.

Anyone know if night diving is an option, if it closes at dusk, etc?

Last time I was out there several folks were there after dark hanging out but I didn't dive it.
The rope was across the main basin parking area at that time but there didn't look like any enforcement of daylight.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

It used to be open from dawn to dusk, not sure now.


Hopefully SeaYoda will get us some answers

 

[jviehe]

I wish we could get a webcam put under the dock focused on the spring, to give people something entertaining to watch. Do you think they would let us? Who would we talk to, how would we set it up, and how much would it cost?

Camera
Housing
Cabling
Computer
Cell modem or wired connection
Power
data plan

Perhaps solar powered?

 

[mike_s]

I wish we could get a webcam put under the dock focused on the spring, to give people something entertaining to watch. Do you think they would let us? Who would we talk to, how would we set it up, and how much would it cost?

Camera
Housing
Cabling
Computer
Cell modem or wired connection
Power
data plan

Perhaps solar powered?

That would be cool...

I imagine that you could get the county to power it off the power they have at the site, if you "sell it to them" that it will promote tourism of their county and help provide security at the site.

Vandelism would be a concern. You'd have to mount any hardware in a pretty tough case/enclosure.

I'd say that cellular would be the best data connection as it's unlikely to get a phone company line out there. But don't know how good cell data coverage is out there. I can test it at "Springfest" with my carrier if needed.

Of course there was a commericial dive shop on site before the state bought the property. so a phone line might be run down the road.

either way, you've got up front capital equipment cost for the install and ongoing monthly service costs.

Seeing they've just spend a MILLION bucks redoing the park, ashamed that they couldn't get this included as a "line item" on the funding.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Powerlines and phone lines aren't far from the park, houses just up the road.

You can use a simple webcam to broadcast the photo, I've got one that I never use that I'd donate.

 

[jviehe]

Ideally, Id like something with a good resolution. Ive seen too many crappy webcam images. Streaming video would be great, but then need a high speed data line. And running all the wires down to the dock would be tricky. So, Im thinking cell wireless with a high res static image might be best. But then were talking $60 a month for the plan. So yeah, youd have to sell it to the county or something to pay for it. Unless we got some sort of donation system going. I hate govt, so doing this privately with govt permission would be best. Maybe a thousand up front, plus $500 a year operating expenses? With all the divers who go there, it might be possible. 500 people pay $1 were good. Maybe sell some adverts on the webpage. Leisure pro etc. Heck, maybe we should just get a sponsor!

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Maybe Vortex Springs can sponsor a banner on the webpage too? LOL



How many local shops use Morrison for checkouts... It'd be nice if they'd put a little money up.

Higher quality means higher cost though.

 

[bigken462]

You could always hang a picture of the place of yesteryear's and set up a "Morrison's Restoration" fund.

 

[mike_s]

Ideally, Id like something with a good resolution. Ive seen too many crappy webcam images. Streaming video would be great, but then need a high speed data line. And running all the wires down to the dock would be tricky. So, Im thinking cell wireless with a high res static image might be best. But then were talking $60 a month for the plan. So yeah, youd have to sell it to the county or something to pay for it. Unless we got some sort of donation system going. I hate govt, so doing this privately with govt permission would be best. Maybe a thousand up front, plus $500 a year operating expenses? With all the divers who go there, it might be possible. 500 people pay $1 were good. Maybe sell some adverts on the webpage. Leisure pro etc. Heck, maybe we should just get a sponsor!

I wouldn't do "live video". just a snapshot image that refreshes every "X" seconds. (where X is maybe 5 seconds, 15, 30, 60 seconds, etc).

That's really easy code to write and push to a server to host the page.... I wrote the code for another web cam to be used a few years ago this way and it worked great.

now days you can get a camera that has ethernet built "onboard" and set with an IP address. (some of these even allow the user to pan left/right, up/down, and zoom in/out, tyically with java scripting.) Anyway, if you had an IP enabled camera, you could have server in a remote location do a FTP of the image every X seconds, updating it with a cronjob.

The datalink could easily support several cameras also, to get several different views from different locations. (point one at the dock, one at the basin, set one further back, etc).

You could then easily add banner adds to the server each time it was loaded or refreshed.

 

[SeaYoda]

Ok, so what kinda ladder contraption is on that boat. Please tell me thats not where someone shines the spot light from when gaiter huntin. Lol

The boat belonged to a "Professional Wildlife Photographer" that was there taking pictures. I didn't ask his name but he was not up to date on the "progress" at Morrison. I think the ladder was to get that "special" angle for his shots.