Video Streams
Browse every camera and video feed available to your organization, in a grouped list or on a live map.
The Video Streams screen brings together all of the camera feeds your organization shares, organized into collapsible groups by source. You can switch between a scrollable list and an interactive map, mark the feeds you rely on most as favorites, peek at a still snapshot, or open the live stream. On the map, nearby cameras are bundled into clusters so a crowded area stays readable, and you can tap any pin to see what it is before opening it.
Overview
The screen has two views you can toggle between, plus a group filter that is only available on the map. Every camera row carries its own set of controls.
| Control / element | Where it is | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| List tab | Top toggle | Shows all streams grouped by source in a collapsible list. This is the view the screen opens on. |
| Map tab | Top toggle | Plots every stream that has coordinates as a labeled pin. |
| Group header row | List | Tap to expand or collapse that source group. |
| Group arrow | Group header | Points down when the group is open, right when it is closed. |
| Status dot | Camera row | Green when the camera reports Online, red for any other state. |
| Camera name | Camera row | The name the source publishes for the camera. |
| Description | Camera row | A short description, usually the cross street or location. |
| View button | Camera row | Opens a snapshot pop-up, the live player, or a full-screen image, depending on what the camera provides. |
| Detail button | Camera row | Opens the Stream Detail card listing everything the camera reports. |
| Star button | Camera row | Adds or removes the camera from the Favorites group. A filled star means favorited. |
| Three-dot button | Map view only | Opens the single menu option, Filter By Group. |
| Back button | Top left | Cancels any in-progress loading and returns to the previous screen. |
| Return to Mobile Data Com button | Top area | Only appears when you reached this screen from the Mobile Data Com area. |
A Favorites group is added to the very top of the list as soon as you have one or more favorited cameras, and it is expanded automatically. The group disappears again when you unfavorite the last camera in it.
Getting Here
- From Home, open the References section.
- Choose Video Streams.
- The screen loads your organization's stream list and opens on the List view.
The name in the header is the title passed in from the screen you came from, so it can read Video Streams or a more specific label when you arrive from another area.
Switching Between List and Map
- Tap List to see streams grouped by source.
- The active tab's label turns blue and gains an underline; the inactive tab returns to the standard text color.
- Tap Map to see stream locations as pins.
- The three-dot button appears only while you are on Map. On List it is hidden, so there is no menu to open.
Switching tabs does not reload the data. The list keeps whichever groups you had expanded, and the map keeps its current camera position and any group filter you applied.
Browsing the List
- The list is divided into groups, one per source (each source publishes its own set of cameras).
- Tap a group header to expand it; tap it again to collapse it. All groups except Favorites start collapsed.
- Inside an open group, each row shows the camera name, its description, the status dot, and the View, Detail, and star controls.
| Status dot color | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Green | The camera reports a state of Online | Live video should open |
| Red | Any other state, including offline, unknown, or blank | A video-only camera will not open a player; a still image may still load |
Favoriting the handful of cameras you check every shift is the fastest way to work this screen. The Favorites group sits at the top and opens by itself, so your key feeds are one tap away instead of buried in a source group.
Viewing a Stream
The View button leads to one of three outcomes, decided by what the camera publishes.
| What the camera provides | What View opens |
|---|---|
| Both a video feed and a still image | The Stream Preview pop-up, showing a snapshot first |
| A video feed only, state Online | The live player (Stream Detail) straight away |
| A video feed only, any other state | Nothing happens — the player is not opened |
| A still image only | A full-screen image viewer |
- Find the camera you want and check its status dot.
- Tap View.
- If the snapshot pop-up opens, review the image and tap View again to go live.
A video-only camera that is not reporting Online will not open a player when you tap View, and no message is shown. If tapping View appears to do nothing, look at the status dot — a red dot means the live feed is not available right now.
Opening Stream Details
- Tap Detail on any camera row.
- The Stream Detail card opens over the list.
- Scroll the card to read every field the camera publishes — Video Id, State, Name, Description, Camera Type, Latitude, Longitude, Hosted By, and Bearing.
- Tap Back on the card to close it.
Fields with no value are left out, so two cameras from different sources can show different rows.
Favoriting a Camera
- Tap the star on any camera row.
- An outline star becomes a filled star.
- A copy of the camera is added to the Favorites group at the top of the list. The camera also stays in its original source group, so you will see it in both places.
- If this is your first favorite, the Favorites group is created and opened automatically.
- To remove a favorite, tap the filled star again, from either the Favorites group or the camera's own source group.
- The camera is removed from Favorites, and the group itself is removed once it is empty.
Favorites are stored against your organization account, not just this device, so the same list of favorited cameras follows you when you sign in elsewhere. Each change is sent in the background — the list on screen updates immediately and then refreshes once the save comes back.
Using the Map
- Tap the Map tab. The map opens in a street style with your own position shown as a location puck.
- Each camera that has both a latitude and a longitude appears as a white label pin showing its name. When a camera has no name, its description is used instead. Cameras with no coordinates are simply left off the map.
- The map opens zoomed to fit every plotted camera, with a little extra zoom so the pins are not crowded against the edges.
- Cameras close together are bundled into a cluster circle showing how many feeds it holds.
| Cameras in the cluster | Circle color | Circle size |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 50 | Green | Standard |
| 50 to 99 | Blue | Standard |
| 100 to 749 | Red | Larger |
| 750 or more | Red | Largest |
Cluster circles are drawn semi-transparent so you can still see the map underneath, and the count is printed in the middle of each circle.
- Tap a single pin to open that camera's Stream Detail card, which includes a View button when it is opened from the map.
- Tap a cluster, or a spot where several pins overlap, to open the Video Stream Map Item list and pick the exact camera.
- When a cluster holds more than 100 cameras, tapping it zooms the map in to that area instead of listing them, so you can keep drilling down.
Double-tap to zoom is turned off on this map so a quick second tap on a busy pin does not throw your view. Pinch to zoom instead.
Filtering the Map by Group
- With the Map tab open, tap the three-dot button.
- Tap Filter By Group.
- The group filter opens listing every source group in your stream list. Any groups you picked before are still selected.
- Choose the groups you want to see and confirm.
- The map redraws with only the cameras from the selected groups, and refits the view to them.
Selecting no groups leaves the map as it is, so if you want everything back, reopen the filter and select all of the groups again.
Loading, Empty, and Error States
| State | What you see |
|---|---|
| Loading | A loading indicator covers the screen while the stream list is fetched |
| No groups | An empty list — there are no cameras shared with your organization yet |
| Group open but empty | The source published no cameras in that group |
| Request failed | An alert with the message returned by the server; tap to dismiss and try again |
| No coordinates | The camera appears in the list but never on the map |
How This Connects
- Where the list comes from. The stream list is published by your organization, and the app asks only for what has changed since the last check, so reopening the screen is quick and your groups stay stable between visits. The most recent list is kept on the device, which is why the screen can fill in immediately before the refresh finishes.
- Favorites are account data. Your favorited cameras live with your organization account alongside the rest of your profile, so they survive a reinstall and appear on every device you sign in to. See Account Overview for the rest of what travels with your account.
- Shared with the map. The same pins, clustering behavior, and overlap pop-ups are used by the main map screens, and the Filter By Group picker is the same filter used elsewhere for location layers — see Reference Map and Location Filter. Your own position on the map comes from the same GPS source as GPS View.
- Shared with incidents. Cameras opened from an incident use these same three View outcomes, so a feed that will not open here will not open from Incident Maps Tab either.
- Other video paths. Feeds pushed directly to your device rather than published by a source are handled separately in UDP Video Stream.
- Offline and reconnect. The stream list needs a connection to refresh, and live video always needs one. With no signal you may still see the last list that was stored on the device, but tapping View cannot reach the camera. Favoriting while offline updates the list on screen; the save is retried against the server, so confirm your favorites once you are back on a connection.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| Tapping View does nothing | Check the status dot. A video-only camera that is not Online will not open a player. Try Detail to confirm the state, or pick another camera. |
| The stream opens but stays black with a spinner | The feed is connecting. If it does not start, go back and reopen it; a "Please try again later." message means the camera could not be reached. |
| The list is empty | Confirm you have a connection and that you are in the right organization, then leave and reopen the screen so it fetches again. |
| A camera is in the list but not on the map | That camera has no coordinates published. Use the list row instead. |
| The map is blank | You may have a group filter applied. Tap the three-dot button, choose Filter By Group, and select all groups. |
| Tapping a big cluster only zooms in | That is expected for very large clusters. Keep tapping to zoom until the cluster breaks into smaller ones or single pins. |
| A favorite comes back after you remove it | The removal had not reached the server yet. Reopen the screen on a good connection and unfavorite it again. |
| The Favorites group is missing | You have no favorited cameras. Tap the star on any row to create it. |
Related Pages
Next: Stream Detail ➡️