Ustream vs Qik
Construction projects in Wyoming are more often considered “remote” and at times many of the owners, architects, engineers involved aren’t located in close proximity to the jobsite. For years we’ve been able to take digital photos and email them in a relatively short amount of time to anywhere necessary showing project status or issues that need input or comment from people at a distance. Recently, however, mobile phones apps have surfaced that give a leg up on simple digital photos. Live video streaming from a mobile device is rapidly improving and becoming somewhat of a real tool in these remote situations. Two apps stand out at this point: Ustream and Qik. If you have a video capable phone and haven’t tried either of these apps out, you should. The possibilities in construction projects are numerous, as I’m sure is the case in any industry where showing a live video feed of what is happening would be beneficial. From my standpoint, the jury is still out as to which app is preferred since I see pros and cons to both programs, but are there others that I’ve missed?
I think the inherent issue with both of these applications, when relating to remote projects, is their dependency on a connection. I have used many web based applications on my PDA in remote environments and find them very difficult to operate due to a poor connection. This usually results in going back to old, more manual methods. I can also say a video stream is very bandwidth dependent in most cases you wold be lucky to have an analog signal at best and it seems even an Edge Network is not sufficient for steaming video. Although, I have researched and found that when in remote sites my GPS signal is good and there are many Geo Caching or geo tagging products available for static photography, that is lightweight and not so dependent on bandwidth or a 3g connection to send. I think as of now, this is the best solution for remote photographic documentation.
Fortunately, we have a fairly good 3G bandwidth in Jackson, Wyoming (apparently an AT&T exec has a home here). There are locations, however, with little to no connection. In those cases I’ve liked the ability that both apps have to record video to the device for upload later use.
After some more trial and error, I’m leaning towards Qik’s apps at this point, both the free version for live streaming as well as the $1.99 app for recording video that can be uploaded later. I like the paid versions web interface to upload from phone to any computer, quick and easy to deal with.