A 360-degree panoramic views from the top of the Monument

Panoramic Camera System

As part of the restoration project, improvements to access include live views (video images) to be relayed from the top made available to all visitors including those unable to climb the 311 steps.

The installation by video artist Chris Meigh-Andrews provides a live stream of continually modified time-lapse images 24 hours a day, 7 days per week and can be accessed on this dedicated web site and as a “live” image via a video screen display near the base of the Monument. This web site also makes available a continuously updated series of still images of the panorama from the top of the Monument. They are digitally unfolded from the circular images produced by the camera/lens system at the heart of this installation.

A computer controlled digital camera provides a 360-degree panoramic view from the top of the Monument. Changes to the image display are facilitated by a dedicated computer system with interfaces and software that modify the image in response to changes in the ambient conditions of the surrounding environment, specifically wind velocity and direction, average temperature and barometric pressure. This data is used to modify the image stream from the camera in a number of different ways relating to the changes in the weather, so for example the speed of the image stream relates to the wind speed, and the rotation of the image relates to the wind direction. Ambient temperature modifies the colour of the image, whilst changes in the pressure will modify the image contrast. The resulting images therefore will provide a dynamic visual record of the surrounding environment of the Monument in the heart of the City of London.