The world’s oldest webcam Fogcam will be switched off on August 30 after working continuously for 25 years.
The webcam was set up in 1994 to monitor weather changes in San Francisco State University campus.
It has broadcast almost continuously since then barring regular maintenance and the occasional need for it to be re-sited to maintain its view.
Its creators said it was being shut down because there were now no good places to put the webcam.
Jeff Schwartz, who with Dan Wong set up the webcam, said it would go offline on 30 August.
Swartz said, “We felt it was time to let it go.” He also added that it was getting harder to find secure locations to put the camera so it had a good view of Holloway Avenue.
Although Fogcam will be turned off, the website through which its stream is visible will keep on running.
Mr. Schwartz said he was inspired to set up the camera by what is believed to be the first-ever live webcam which was set up at Cambridge University in 1993 to watch a communal coffee pot. The Cambridge coffee cam was shut off in 2001.
Back in 1994, Mr Schwartz and Mr. Wong were budding programmers and used the webcam project as a way to practise coding and to get more familiar with early web technology.
“It was just a little pet project that developed a life of its own,” he told the SFGate newspaper, “People liked it so we kept it going.”
“Our webcam is a throwback to the early days of the internet when anyone could do anything,” Mr. Schwartz added.
