Network of remote cameras to monitor and record Genesis Energy's lining of the Tekapo canal

In 2012, Genesis Energy began the substantial project of remediating the Tekapo canal that delivers the water from Lake Tekapo between the Tekapo A and B power stations.
The work involved draining the canal and preparing and lining sections of the canal with a waterproof liner.
A culvert that allowed a natural stream to pass under the canal, was also rebuilt as part of the project.

Snowgrass Solutions was asked to install a number of their rental cameras along the canal with the purpose of recording the process.
In addition to recording the project with high resolution images, Snowgrass installed a high powered wireless network to interconnect the cameras with one of their 3G Internet connections. The 3G connection allowed the cameras to provide an additional service of uploading 720HD resolution images to a secure web page, also provided by Snowgrass. The web page allowed off-site engineers, many of them overseas, to monitor the project and was also used to display smaller resolution time lapse movies created from the images captured by the cameras.

The entire system was operated remotely. The cameras, wireless hardware and 3G Internet connection, all operated autonomously on solar power and were distributed over a 6km section of the canal. This allowed Snowgrass to provide the entire service without having to liaise with other IT teams, etc.

At the completion of each stage, the images and a series of time-lapse movies created from the images were provided to Genesis Energy and their contractors for reviewing the progress of the project.

Visit Genesis Energy's web site for further information about the project.

Visit Tekapo Tourism's Feature Page on the project.

HD (1920x1080) PTZ camera above the Franz Josef Glacier

Snowgrass Solutions was approached by the Department of Conservation about installing a camera at the top of a cliff overlooking the Franz Josef Glacier.
The remote camera was to be a joint venture between the Department of Conservation (DoC) and Franz Josef Glacier Guides (FJGG).
The camera was required to perform the role of a live webcam, capturing multiple views of the glacier and Waiho River, as well as record a series of images of the glacier for monitoring the glacier and for creating a time lapse movie of the glacier's behaviour. DoC and FJGG also had to be able to take control of the camera to make real time observations of the glacier and Waiho River.

The isolated location of the camera required the installation of a wireless network into the Waiho Valley, comprising a high altitude repeater station with views of both the Franz Josef village and the camera site. The wireless system provided network access to the camera suitable for streaming live video, but also provided Internet access in the vicinity of the glacier, and has since allowed scientists to place instruments on and around the glacier and monitor them remotely over the Internet.

In addition to being installed in a region where the annual rainfall is measured in metres, another major consideration for the project was Kea, New Zealand's inquisitive and destructive mountain parrot. Their sharp beaks can strip cables, tear plastics and they can generally cause havoc with technology at high altitude.
Snowgrass Solutions designed a solid steel mount for the camera and electronics that ensured no cabling was exposed to Kea.
Any surface large enough for a Kea to land on was interrupted with long plastic rods to prevent such landings from occurring, providing additional protection to the camera and equipment on the structure.

Access to both the camera and wireless repeater sites was by helicopter. The equipment was delivered to each site underneath the helicopter and final assembly was made on site.

Click here to view the Franz Josef HD web cams

Click here to view the Fox Glacier HD web cams

Camera for monitoring construction of Christchurch's "Cardboard Cathedral"

An early morning image from the camera captured in early May 2013

Having installed cameras to watch the controlled deconstruction of the Christ Church Cathedral in Christchurch's Cathedral Square, Snowgrass Solutions was asked to install one of their rental cameras and wireless link at the new "Cardboard Cathedral" site to monitor and record the construction of the new cathedral.

The camera serves two roles, with one being to act as a webcam by uploading regular webcam shots to the cathedral's website and to record another series of images for creating a timelapse movie of the project.

Click here to view web site of Cardboard Cathedral including webcam

HD (1920x1080) PTZ camera for Ohau Snow Field

Actual image off the Ohau HD web cam. Click on image to view at full size

Having installed a PTZ web cam for Ohau Snow Fields several years ago (see details below), Snowgrass Solutions was approached about upgrading to a new HD camera. The camera chosen was a full HD camera with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. The same resolution as an HD TV transmission.
The HD camera was installed in the same location as the original camera, near the top of mountain and the original camera was relocated down to the snow field's facilities.
The combination of the high resolution and 20x optical zoom allows the field's management to zoom in on areas of the field with exceptional detail.
Snowgrass Solutions programmed the camera to perform an autonomous web cam role by sequencing through a series of views and uploading the resulting images to the Ohau web site.
The plan for the camera is to add a network video decoder at the accommodation lodge at the bottom of the mountain. This will allow the camera's live video feed to be 'extracted' from the snow field/lodge's IP network and displayed on a large HD TV/monitor.

Click here to view the Ohau Snow Field's web cam page

Time-lapse cameras to record/monitor the Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral viewed from 1 of 3 cameras, at 5 Megapixels. Click to view at full size

Two of the three 5MP cameras located on buildings surrounding the Christ Church Cathedral

With much of central Christchurch cordoned off following the February earthquake of 2011, Snowgrass Solutions was approached and asked to provide a number of 5 mega-pixel cameras for monitoring/recording the Christ Church Cathedral.
The cameras perform several roles, including the recording of images for the production of time lapse movies. The cameras also provide a simple "webcam" role by uploading regular images to a secure web page for viewing by the customer.
The cameras operate on an autonomous network within the cordon, with one camera site acting as a master with a Snowgrass developed 3G cellular router and wireless access point. The 3G router provides secure access to the Internet for both incoming and outgoing data. The other cameras connect back to the master site via the wireless network.
One camera site has no access to mains power, so operates on a solar derived power source, also included provided by Snowgrass Solutions.
Snowgrass Solutions regularly connects remotely to the camera network to download the camera's time lapse images, reducing on-going costs by reducing the number of physical visits to the cameras.
Due to the cameras being located within a demolition zone, occasional visits are still required to clean the cameras, ensuring quality images, a service also provided by Snowgrass Solutions.

Click here to view the Cathedral web cams

HD web camera for Popua Solar Farm in Tonga

In 2011 Meridian Energy contacted Snowgrass Solutions regarding the supply and installation of a web cam at one of their projects in the Pacific Island kingdom of Tonga.

Snowgrass Solutions installed a very high definition, 5 megapixel network camera with the role of sending 1280 x 720 pixel images back to Snowgrass' server at 10 minute intervals, for the creation of a time lapse movie of the project.

The camera can also be polled over the Internet for a full resolution, 5MP image, allowing NZ based project managers to view aspects of the project in greater detail.

The project is an alliance between Tonga Power Ltd, the Government of Tonga and renewable energy developer Meridian Energy, with the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

View the latest image from the Popua web cam
View the latest time lapse movie of the project.

View Meridian Energy's project page
View Meridian Energy's Facebook page for latest update on the project

HD web camera for Lake Wanaka Tourism

Several years ago Snowgrass Solutions installed two web cams for Lake Wanaka Tourism. A fixed camera for providing regular image updates for their web site and a PTZ camera for providing interactive views of the lake in live video.
With the advancement of new HD cameras, Snowgrass Solutions was asked to upgrade the fixed camera to a full HD (high definition) camera. The Axis P1344 1280 x 720 pixel camera has been installed and will shortly be providing 720HD images for their web site.

View actual image from the Lake Wanaka Tourism HD web cam

View the Lake Wanaka Tourism web cam (images displayed at reduced size)

HD PTZ camera for Christchurch City

SHF Petroleum is a family owned and operated company that provides a fuel and petroleum product delivery service in the Canterbury and South Canterbury areas.
They contacted Snowgrass Solutions regarding the installation of a camera at a high site they had access to on the Port Hills.
Various camera options were considered, but once the management team at SHF saw the picture quality of the Axis 5534-E HD PTZ camera, they made an easy decision.
The Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera autonomously looks at multiple views around Christchurch and uploads the HD 1280 x 720 pixel images on to their server.
Visitors to their site can see medium sized images from the camera on the web-cam page, but when clicked upon, the images open in clear HD quality. The images are larger than some smaller laptop screens.
Camera has since been removed.

PTZ camera for Twizel in the South Island's Mackenzie Country

A joint venture between the Twizel Promotions and Development Association (TPDA) and private promotions company, Tekapo Tourism Ltd (TTL), has seen the installation of a tourism web camera close to the township of Twizel.
The camera is a Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera, configured to autonomously capture multiple views and upload them on to both the TPDA and TTL websites.

Being remote, the system operates on a solar/battery power source and the connection to the Internet is via a 3G mobile connection.

The camera's views include the majestic Mt Cook, and the lakes, Pukaki, Ruataniwha and Benmore.

Images will be published on the TPDA and TTL owned websites.

View the Mt Cook images on the Mt Cook web site

View the full set of images on the Twizel Promotions web site

PTZ camera for the Globe Progress gold mine in Reefton

Located on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island, the Globe Progress is an opencast gold mine that operates seven days a week. The mine is subject to challenging temperature and precipitation conditions. Annual rainfall is 2,100mm. While snowfalls are regular during the winter, summer temperatures can reach around 35 degrees centigrade.
Ore zones are only mined during daylight when on-the-spot visual checking is possible.
The Alliance team of Oceana Gold and Stracon Mining wanted to find a way to ensure the pit operations were as efficient as they could be, in particular the deployment of the haul trucks throughout the mine.
They identified the potential that a rugged surveillance camera solution could have in helping achieve this, and approached Snowgrass Solutions to help investigate this option.

Given the challenging weather conditions of the area and rugged environment associated with gold mines, the camera system would have to ensure protection from the elements and particularly from moisture creep within the camera itself, which would lead to fogging.
Furthermore, the camera would have to be portable - as the mine advances, the camera would have to be relocated.
The locations of the camera would not have access to conventional power sources, so a solar charged battery system with the capacity to keep the camera operating for approximately one week without direct sunshine, was required. A high speed radio link would connect the camera to the mine’s computer network. Image quality would also be important, with the camera having to be capable of zooming from one end of the 1200m long pit to the other.

Snowgrass Solutions designed a wireless network solution with a long range data radio link and solar derived power system, based on the AXIS 213 PTZ Network Camera, which was chosen for its proven reliability in several of Snowgrass Solution’s previous installations and its ability to operate well on a solar charged battery system.
The camera system was configured to allow the camera to autonomously move through preset views, capturing images for an FTP upload to a remote server. These images will be used to produce a time lapse movie of the long term changes at the mine.

The camera orientation is controlled by the desktop in the Supervisor’s office while eight remote logins have also been set up so that a number of staff can access the camera and manage it remotely, if necessary.

Efficiency was the main driver for implementing the camera system and since its introduction in early August 2010 the solution has already identified deployment methods that are improving the effectiveness of mine operations. The camera enables operations supervisors to see if a project is running as it should and whether the allocation of resources is optimised. For example, the camera can identify if there are multiple trucks being loaded by a digger in one area of the pit, while another digger in different section may have no trucks to load, and quickly balance their deployment.
The IP camera system has proved its worth in other ways as well. With the installation of the large screen outside the Supervisor’s office streaming live video of the site, it increases everyone’s awareness of the pit. When each shift comes into work they can see what is happening in the mine, where the machinery is, which areas are being worked on and get an idea of the status of operations.

This project was featured in an article by Axis, the camera's manufacturer.

Click here to download the article

Internet and telephone over long range radio link

Snowgrass Solutions was contacted regarding the possiblity of delivering an Internet connection and telephone line into a remote, solar powered cottage in the foothills of the Mackenzie Country.
The nearest Internet connection was in a village 14km away, but that village was visible from a hill above the cottage.

A long range radio link operating at around 24Mbits/sec was installed between a broadband connection at the village and the hill above the cottage. Power and data for the radio on the hill above the cottage was provided through cable laid in a 90 metre trench from the cottage. An Internet connection and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) telephone system was installed at the cottage. The system was monitored for several months following installation and continued to operate through all weathers, including heavy snow.

PTZ webcam for Roundhill Ski Field - Lake Tekapo

Roundhill Ski Field is set into the base of the Richmond Range, overlooking Lake Tekapo. They first approached Snowgrass Solutions in 2008 regarding the possibility of installing a sophisticated webcam near the top of the ski field, where the views were the best.
In 2010 such a system was budgeted for and the system was designed and installed prior to the 2010 ski season.

The camera is an Axis 213PTZ camera operating on a solar charged battery. The camera is loaded with customised code that instructs the camera to autonomously capture a series of images at a resolution of 704 x 576 and upload them to the Roundhill website.

The camera's enclosure includes a fan forced heater to clear any ice that may be blown on to the dome. The heater is operated by the camera's operating system and activates automatically for 20 minutes twice a day, but can also be triggered manually by a remote connection to the camera.

The connection to Roundhill's web server is through a high speed 900MHz 3G mobile connection. The 3G router was developed by Snowgrass Solutions and has an external antenna for increased signal strength in remote areas. In addition to supporting remote camera connections, the router can also be used to connect any remote computer user to the Internet. With an optional wireless module, the router can share a mobile broadband connection with multiple users.

This installation is refered to on Axis, the camera manufacturer's website.
Click here and scroll to the bottom of their page

View the Roundhill webcam page.

PTZ webcam for Canterbury's new Pegasus Town

Pegasus Town, north of Christchurch, is an exciting project involving the building of an entirely new town, complete with lake and golf course, on the Pegasus Bay coast.
We were approached by the developers and asked to investigate installing a webcam in the centre of the town.
A location on the top of a suspension bridge over the lake was selected and an Axis PTZ was chosen as the prefered camera due to its ability to capture multiple views from a single vantage point.

The camera uses a medium range radio data link to the nearest network with an Internet gateway.
The camera captures a series of images every 15 minutes during daylight hours.

View the Pegasus Town webcam page.

Camera for monitoring of remote construction site

An established South Island based developer approached Snowgrass Solutions regarding a camera system that would allow them to monitor remotely, a major construction project.
In addition to providing them with a live video feed of the site over a simple broadband connection, the camera was also required to capture regular high quality images of the project that could subsequently be used by their customer to create a time lapse video of the building's construction.
For this reason, an HDTV camera was installed with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and capable of transmitting video over the Internet in the very economical H.264 format.

Remote, solar powered video recorder

Snowgrass Solutions was contacted by a reputable Environmental Consultancy company in Auckland, regarding the design and installation of a remote video recording system for monitoring an area of interest, where power and an Internet connection was not available.

A system was designed using a high resolution miniature camera, Digital Video Recorder (DVR), timer, solar panel and high capacity battery.
The system was configured to record up to 2 months of video during daylight hours only.

Approximately once a month the site is attended and the DVR's Hard Disk Drive (HDD) swapped. The HDD is then courier to the consultants in Auckland for review.
The observations are used as evidence to support the requirements of their customer's Resource Consent.