Webcam Monitoring

Visitor and traffic congestion is a major problem in Glacier National Park. Congestion can happen at many different places within the park: parking lots, trailheads and trails, visitor centers, entrance stations or waiting to board a bus. It may also happen in gateway communities, or on roadways leading into a park.

Because congestion often has impacts on safety, visitor experience, resources, emergency response times, and park operations, reducing congestion is an important management topic for Glacier National Park. This research project will explore the use of remote solar-powered webcams to monitor parking lot capacity in the park, with the ability to upload images in real time to the Glacier website where the images can be viewed by the public and Glacier management personnel. This strategy is being explored to help mitigate traffic congestion. In addition, the research will explore the implementation of a GPS activated mobile webcam designed to be mounted on the Glacier shuttle buses. The project will address a number of issues related to the successful implementation of webcams deployed throughout the park. In particular, the project will address the following problems: lack of cellular connectivity, lack of power throughout the park, severe weather conditions, real time FTP protocols for uploading images to the website, development of a website page for displaying images, etc.