Stream Preview

See a still snapshot and full details of a camera before opening its live feed.

Two small cards sit between the stream list and the live video. The Stream Preview card shows a still snapshot of what the camera currently sees, so you can confirm you have the right view before committing to live video. The Stream Detail card lists every field the camera publishes. From either card, one tap takes you to the live feed or the full-screen image.

Overview

Card	What it shows	Main action
Stream Preview	The camera name and a still snapshot image	View opens the live feed or full-screen image
Stream Detail	A scrollable list of the camera's published fields	View (shown when opened from the map) opens the feed; a color button appears for map features

Both cards float over the screen you came from and resize themselves to fit your device: on a phone in portrait they stretch nearly edge to edge, and on a tablet or in landscape they take about half the screen width. Rotating the device re-fits the card as you turn it.

Controls on both cards

Control	What it does
View	Opens the camera's stream or image (see the tables below)
Back	Closes the card and returns you to the list or map underneath
Color button	Only on a Stream Detail card opened for a map feature; opens the color and opacity picker

Stream Detail fields

The card lists whichever of these fields the camera has a value for, in this order:

Field	What it means
Video Id	The source's own identifier for the camera
State	The camera's reported status, such as Online
Name	The camera's published name
Description	Short description, often the location or cross street
Camera Type	The kind of camera the source is publishing
Latitude	North–south coordinate used to place it on the map
Longitude	East–west coordinate used to place it on the map
Hosted By	Who provides the feed
Bearing	The direction the camera faces, in degrees
URL	The feed address — shown for image-type streams

note

Empty fields are skipped entirely rather than shown blank, so two cameras from different sources often show different rows. Bearing is always shown, and reads 0 when the source does not publish a direction.

Getting Here

1. From Home, open References then Video Streams.
2. Then, depending on which card you want:

To reach	Do this
Stream Preview	Tap View on a camera that publishes both a video feed and a still image
Stream Detail (from the list)	Tap Detail on any camera row
Stream Detail (from the map)	Switch to Map and tap a single camera pin
Stream Detail (from an overlap list)	Tap a camera name in the Video Stream Map Item list

Previewing a Snapshot

1. Tap View on a camera that has both video and an image. The Stream Preview card opens.
2. The header shows the camera name, and the card body shows a still snapshot.
   • If a copy of that image is already stored on the device, it appears instantly.
   • Otherwise the image is fetched from the source, so it can take a moment to appear on a slow connection.
3. Check the snapshot: is this the view you need, and is the scene current?

tip

The snapshot is the cheapest way to check a camera. On a weak connection, look at the snapshot and read the detail card instead of opening live video — you often get the answer you need without the data cost.

Opening the Live Stream from a Preview

1. On the Stream Preview card, tap View.
2. The card closes and the app opens whichever view matches the camera:

Camera type	What opens
Video feed, state Online	The live player
Video feed, any other state	Nothing opens — go back and check the state
Image-only stream	A full-screen image viewer

Reading Stream Details

1. Open the card with Detail from a list row, or by tapping a single pin on the map.
2. Scroll the card to read the fields listed above.
3. Use State to judge whether live video is worth trying, and Latitude/Longitude to confirm you are looking at the right location.
4. Tap Back to close the card.

Opening the Stream from the Detail Card

The View button is only shown on a detail card that was opened from the Map. When you open the card with Detail from a list row, there is no View button — use the row's own View button instead.

1. Tap a single pin on the map to open the card.
2. Tap View.
3. The card closes and the app follows the same three outcomes:
   • Both video and image: the Stream Preview card opens first.
   • Video only and Online: the live player opens.
   • Image only: the full-screen image viewer opens.

Map Feature Cards

The same detail card is reused for non-camera map features, and then it behaves a little differently:

1. A color button appears in the card.
2. Field names are tidied up from the feature's own data — underscores become spaces and each word is capitalized — and listed alphabetically, so a feature with many attributes is still readable. For a location reference, Layer is pulled to the top.
3. Tapping the color button closes the card and opens the color and opacity picker for that feature.
4. Tapping Back after a color change passes the new color and opacity back to the map so the feature is redrawn.

info

Color and opacity apply to the map feature you selected, not to camera pins. Camera pins always draw as white label bubbles.

Closing the Card

1. Tap Back.
2. The card closes with no change, and you return to the list or map underneath.

Tapping View also closes the card, but it hands you straight on to the stream or image.

How This Connects

• Where the fields come from. Every value on the detail card is published by the source in the stream list, so the card is only as current as the last refresh on Video Streams. A camera that has gone offline since then can still read Online here.
• Where the snapshot comes from. The preview uses the camera's still-image address. A copy already stored on the device is used first, which is why the same snapshot sometimes appears instantly and sometimes has to load.
• Shared with the map. Cards opened from a pin, from a cluster, or from the overlap lists are the same card — see Video Stream Map Item and Map Vector Tile Item. Color and opacity changes made here show up on Reference Map.
• Leads to the player. Every route to live video passes through the outcomes described here and ends at Stream Detail.
• Offline and reconnect. Field values come from the stored stream list, so the detail card still opens with no signal. The snapshot only appears if the image was already stored on the device, and View cannot reach a live feed until the connection is back.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
The snapshot area stays blank	The image is still loading or could not be fetched. Close the card and tap View again, or read the detail card instead.
The snapshot looks old	Sources refresh still images on their own schedule. Open the live feed if you need the current picture.
View on the preview does nothing	The camera is video-only and not Online. Close the card and check the status dot on the row.
There is no View button on the detail card	You opened the card with Detail from a list row. Use the row's View button, or open the camera from the map.
Fields you expected are missing	The source published no value for them. Empty fields are never shown.
The card is cut off	Scroll inside the card. Rotating the device also re-fits it to the new screen size.
The color button does nothing useful	That button only applies to map features, not camera pins.

Related Pages

• Video Streams
• Stream Detail
• Video Stream Map Item
• Map Vector Tile Item

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