Question of the Day - 25 April 2013

To quote a previous QoD we ran on this topic back in 2011:

"There was a time when Las Vegas was awash with webcams, some of which were high quality. A prime example was the trio of cameras mounted at the Polo Towers, which offered high-quality color views panning the Strip, including the CityCenter construction site and Bellagio fountain show. Gone. (At least, as far as we know these are gone; you now have to have a username and password to log in to the new Diamond Resorts group website. The cameras may well have been owned by CityCenter and intended to be in place only while construction was ongoing).

"Then there was the camera you mentioned outside Hawaiian Tropic Zone, itself supplanted by PBR: A Rock Bar. Gone.

"MGM Grand cam? Gone. Imperial Palace and Casino Royale webcams? Both gone. Likewise the webcam on Fremont Street and the one previously poolside at the Hard Rock (the TruTV "Rehab" reality-TV series, itself since axed, probably put the kibosh on that one). Springs Preserve had a fun rooftop-mounted camera broadcasting live streaming video and you could pan, tilt, and zoom with that one. Gone, at least for the time being (apparently, there's some talk of relocating this camera, but don't hold your breath). [Ed: Lucky we didn't, or we would have died of asphyxia. It did not return.]

"As to why all these webcams have disappeared, we can't say. Changes in ownership may account for some losses, but others are harder to explain, other than being one less expense to maintain during this troubled economy, perhaps? We never heard of any privacy issues rearing their heads.

So, as it was at the time of our previous writing, the Las Vegas-webcam situation remains in a pretty sorry state, although at least the few working cameras we were aware of back then remain operational. They are:

• Those at the Boyd-owned properties around town, minus Suncoast. You have to sign up for access to view these, but it's free
• The Silverton aquarium-cam (which was "down" for a long time, but is now up-and-running again and remains one of favorites, not that it has much to do with Las Vegas)
• Backstage with the cast of Crazy Girls (a half-hour nightly dressing-room chatfest that we have yet to participate in)
• Three Earthcams streaming views of the pirate ship at TI, including two exterior angles and one interior one of the wedding chapel (we enjoyed a view of someone picking up trash the last time we logged on)
• And various traffic cams

The only noteworthy addition to the list that we're aware of is actually a very cool one, in the form of a streaming webcam in the Conservatory at Bellagio, allowing you to catch the always-spectacular seasonal displays (plus archived footage of some of the previous ones, including timelapse of the changeover from one exhibit to another, which is fun), if you're not able to savor them in person. You can pan around and zoom in and out, too.

You can find the links to all of these when you click the "Vegas Webcams" feature in our Vegas Visitor Guide section. If we're missing any other noteworthy ones, please let us know.

Aha! Thanks for the feedback -- we knew we could count on you. Thanks to several readers who took the time to write in, we now know that the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign has a streaming Earthcam -- in hi def, and with audio, no less! It's fun to watch people having their pictures taken (we just caught a group of girls jumping in the air and falling about laughing.) Also, in the course of checking this one out, we discovered that the TI webcams are accessible here, too, without the bother of having to sign up for access via the hotel's website.