Closed Circuit Television Alaska

Closed circuit television is a system of cameras located throughout a building or lot of land that are connected to a monitoring system similar to a television. Closed circuit television, or CCTV, is used for a wide variety of activities and the increasing evolution of computer and digital technology has also meant a sophisticated use of closed circuit television. People have become accustomed to seeing cameras looking back at them at automated teller machines, banks, and increasingly at traffic lights. However, there are myriad uses of closed circuit television that few people realize exist until now.

Closed circuit television has become a prevalent means of entertaining the public. One entertaining use of closed circuit television is at sporting events like soccer, football, and baseball, showing replays of plays, people in the stands, and other computer generated programming. As well, closed circuit television is used in amusement parks and zoos to observe walking traffic and, in the case of zoos, allows zookeepers to observe animal behaviors while the animals are in their "natural" environment. In addition, those who choose to do animation and model making as a form of artistic expression sometimes used closed circuit television in order to look at several different lighting angles at once and to do time lapse recording in order to animate figures.

As well, governmental agencies use closed circuit television for any number of tasks. One way in which CCTV is used by the government is to survey traffic levels in different areas of a city at one time. Another use of closed circuit television is to observe traffic in highways and on bridges in order to keep track of how often certain roadways are used. A third use is in factories and testing facilities to make sure production is going smoothly and to ensure employee safety, particularly in nuclear plants and in hazardous materials processing. However, there are many more aspects of closed circuit television that need to be addressed to have a full understanding of its impact on modern society.

Closed circuit television involves a combination of multiple cameras, either stationary or rotating, connected to a corresponding set of closed circuit monitors: these monitors look similar to a common television set but lack the tuning controls that allow television viewers to change channels. However, closed circuit televisions come with contrast and color options in order to make an image lighter or darker.

Essentially, the cameras used in a closed circuit television system are connected via wiring (or, in recent years, wireless connection) to a router, which manages the flow of information to the corresponding monitor. No matter the type of connection, closed circuit television images remain within the network of monitors and cameras. This is the reason for the term "closed circuit," as the CCTV monitors cannot receive television programs nor can any radios or televisions pick up closed circuit signals.

Recent technological advances have brought closed circuit television closer to computers and television in terms of complexity. Digital photography and imaging have allowed purveyors of CCTV to put out premium systems which allow for more camera options and greater image resolution on monitors. As well, the ability to make cameras smaller allows for less conspicuous monitoring systems and the capability to place cameras in smaller places.

The usage of closed circuit television began as an element of military security and preparedness. The first documented use of closed circuit television was in 1942 by the German military. The installation of remote cameras and crude black-white monitors was important to the observation of V2 missile tests in preparation of long-distance military strikes. The Germans were not the only ones to use closed circuit television in the 1940s, as the United States utilized the technology during the Manhattan Project. This project involved the development of an atomic weapon in the deserts of the American Southwest and closed circuit television allowed scientists and military leaders to observe the success of tests from afar.

Closed circuit television was popularized as a local governmental tool in Great Britain in the 1980s and 1990s; with the British Home Office installing tens of thousands to monitor traffic and help combat growing crime rates. It became an important tool for British and American transit authorities in places like London and New York, with cameras placed in taxis, buses, and train stations to prevent vandalism and ensure timely transportation of customers. In Californian cities in the late 1990s, speeding cameras were installed at traffic lights in order to track traffic violators and send tickets out to car owners.

Convenience stores and other retail outlets began to use closed circuit television in the 1970s and 1980s in order to prevent theft and as a method of crowd control. As automated teller machines became more popular in the 1990s, closed circuit television cameras became commonplace at the thousands upon thousands of ATMs in every Western city. Indeed, walking down any American or British street since the 1990s means that a closed circuit television system has probably captured the image of everyone who has walked past.