TheFrameworks London office is located directly opposite the site of the new Shard development which is currently under construction.
We thought it might be interesting to set up a webcam to capture the rise of The Shard (set to become the UK’s and Western Europe’s tallest building) and will be updating to this post with the latest pictures as the build progresses. All the geeky details of how we set the webcam up are after the break.
Current images:
Filming The Shard
To film the shard I dug out our old Apple iSight camera that had been gathering dust and hooked it up to one of our old 12″ PowerBook G4s. To take the photos I created an Automator ‘watch me do‘ workflow that opens Apple’s Photo Booth, takes a photo and then quits. I then saved the workflow as an application.
To get the photo to be taken at the same time every day (in order to avoid the sun), I set up a repeating daily iCal event that opens the workflow application instead of triggering an alarm. I also set the Mac to wake up and sleep 15 minutes before and after the iCal event to save power. It seems to work well with only a couple of minor hiccups (mostly at the weekend) so far.
More information about the building of The Shard, including some great computer simulations of the construction process can be found on the Global Construction Watch website. Visualisations of The Shard (including the image below) can be found on the London Bridge Quarter website.
Above image: http://www.shardlondonbridge.com
I love you work, I wish I worked opposite such an impressive build. Any chance I can office share with you????? I make a lovely cup of tea and am an expert in desk moves!!!
Robster