The iPhone 4 has got a great camera, but this app is about checking on images captured by other cameras around the globe. If you’ve ever wished to have access to more than 14,000 webcams from your pocket, WorldView+ might be just the app for you. With a nice icon and a redesigned UI by Marcelo Marfil, this app combines the functionality of checking on live webcams with additional data pulled from Wikipedia, weather stations and Google Maps.
The webcams are the same ones available on webcams.travel, a touristic website that empowers users to search for a specific country or city and get a constantly updating view of the selected cam. WorldView+ features 5 tabs at the bottom that let you collect bookmarks (your favorite webcams), search for a new cam, check on nearby ones using the iPhone’s GPS technology, get a random cam and browse the featured ones. The interface has been streamlined since the first versions of the app and it features all the pixel expertise we’ve come to love in Marfil’s works.
The app has got some settings to play with as well. You can enable auto-refresh for webcam images (most of webcams worldwide provide a static image refresh every 5 or 10 minutes), switch from Google’s Maps service to CloudMade’s one (I’ve never used it, have you?) and enter your Twitter credentials to tweet about a webcam. I wouldn’t tweet about a webcam, but I guess it may be in someone’s desires to be able to do so.
WorldWide+ is not app for everyone (it’s definitely not an app for me) but those who were looking for something like this will end up loving it. It’s for a niche, and a very selected one. Or perhaps it’s just cool. Anyway, at $2.99 you’ll get an eye on the world with a polished interface. Not a bad deal. Go download it.
