Province
The view from Vancouver’s oldest webcam is also one of the city’s most beautiful.
If you’re lucky enough to enjoy a fabulous view from your office window, sharing it is the decent thing to do.
That’s what Randall Golhof and his business partner, Kathryn Torvick of Telemark Systems, have been doing for almost 10 years.
Randall and Kathryn are the operators of Vancouver’s original viewcam — possibly the first one in Canada.
Since February 1996, Internet users from around the world have been “visiting” Vancouvervia their website, which features a spectacular view of the BurrardBridge and English Bay. The high-resolution image updates every five minutes.
The Kat Kam’s galleries contain hundreds of jaw-dropping English Bay sunsets — and, naturally, the occasional Burrard Bridge fender-bender.
“We’ve even had the odd pictures of a police takedown,” says Randall.
Kathryn says she keeps the camera rolling because her hobby helps promote Vancouver tourism. “The e-mails are mostly from people who’ve been here and loved it and just want to groove on the memories,” she says.
The Kat Kam also serves a practical function for commuters who need to check out traffic flow on the bridge and also for boaters and pilots who want to see a live image of the marine skies.
“People also write to me and say I’ve got a son or daughter at [the University of B.C.] and it’s wonderful to be able to see exactly where they are and to feel a little more connected to them,” says Kathryn.
Check out the view and links to other B.C. viewcams at www.katkam.ca.
