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"Steamr" and Utility Photography
Daily Ink
Stored in: Tools
Posted On: December 07 2008
By: Bryan Partington
Archival Photo
One of the most intriguing things about photography in the modern world is that so many people carry around cameras. Cameraphones are so ubiquitous that even people with no interest in photography have them, and it is sometimes more difficult to find a phone without a camera than it is to find one with one.
It is interesting to speculate how this ubiquity might create new uses and norms related to photography, perhaps outside of creative or social milieus.
An iPhone application called Steamr is an interesting experiment in applying this ubiquity to address the potentially deadly effects of steam rupture in the streets of Manhattan.
Steamr is a tool to allow the iPhone-carrying public to report potentially dangerous leaking steam to ConEd Steam Operations.
At one time or another, you've likely noticed steam coming from the street or a manhole. This is not normal. The steam system has no normal venting process; leaking steam can burn pedestrians, or can indicate problems that can, under certain circumstances, lead to failure
Using the iPhone camera, you can send a photo to the utility company that maintains Manhattan's underground steam infrastructure. By using Steamr, not only is the company informed of the potential danger, but they can immediately see the problem visually and are provided the location of the image using the phone's GPS abilities.
So, photography in service of public safety. Sort of flipping the very romantic, artistic images of steam rising from New York City manholes and sewer grates on their head, a new utility for classic imagery of the city cloaked in steam.
Otherwise, in Tools:
- Previously: iPhone Photography app review: Photogene
- Next: Point and Shoot 3D!
Utata Ink is a daily publication edited by Bryan Partington (striatic). Photos used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and obtained via the flickr API unless otherwise noted. To make a contribution to Ink, please visit Ink Me.
