Tuesday, July 21, 2015

The Meerkat Map


Links to live video streams on Periscope occasionally pop-up on my Twitter wall. However by the time I get around to clicking on the links the streams are always over. I have therefore actually never seen a live Periscope video broadcast.

I understand that Periscope actually has a map of currently live streams on its iOS app. That would be great if I actually owned an iOS device. I can't help thinking that there must be many people like me who would be tempted to download a Periscope app if Periscope actually had more of a web presence.

This seems to be a lesson learnt by one of Periscope's main competitors, Meerkat. The Meerkat web homepage provides a list of currently live streams. There is also the MeerkatMap, created with the Meerkat API.

The MeerkatMap is a great way to find live video streams by location. Markers on the map show the current live streams and you can click-through to watch any broadcast live on the Meerkat website. The map sidebar also includes a list & links to live video streams with no location data.

Revealing the location of live Meerkat streams obviously has some privacy issues. I don't know if the MeerkatMap has taken any steps to offset the exact location of the streams being shown. However if you are a Meerkat user then you might want to adjust your location settings in the app itself.

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