---
license: other
license_name: research-use
license_link: https://github.com/drPod/data-dive
pretty_name: UIUC Campus Cams (Apr 23 – Apr 29 2026)
task_categories:
  - image-classification
  - object-detection
tags:
  - transit
  - transportation
  - pedestrian-flow
  - urban-sensing
  - time-series
size_categories:
  - 1M<n<10M
---

# UIUC Campus Cams (Apr 23 – Apr 29 2026)

Frame-level archive from three public UIUC YouTube live streams, captured
at 1 Hz (after a brief startup ramp; see per-camera `intended_interval_s`).
Paired with per-frame metadata (timestamp, brightness, capture status).

**Capture window:** 2026-04-23 05:27:28 UTC → 2026-04-29 23:41:52 UTC
(~6.76 days, ~1.55M frames total across the three cameras, 489 hourly
WebDataset shards).

Collected as part of an academic research project on UIUC class-release
pedestrian surges and bus delays at signalized intersections (code:
[github.com/drPod/data-dive](https://github.com/drPod/data-dive)). Three
companion archives released alongside this one:

- [`dr-pod/data-dive-mtd-gtfs-rt`](https://huggingface.co/datasets/dr-pod/data-dive-mtd-gtfs-rt) — CUMTD GTFS-Realtime feeds at 5 s polling.
- [`dr-pod/data-dive-google-directions`](https://huggingface.co/datasets/dr-pod/data-dive-google-directions) — 8 campus OD pairs polled at 60 s.
- [`dr-pod/data-dive-cu-weather`](https://huggingface.co/datasets/dr-pod/data-dive-cu-weather) — KCMI hourly NWS observations (covariate).

## Cameras

| id | intended interval | framing | primary use |
|---|---|---|---|
| `quad` | 1 s | Foellinger-terrace view of Main Quad X paths | pedestrian density + trajectory across the central campus X |
| `alma` | 1 s | Alma Mater statue and the visitor plaza | per-visitor dwell-time and visit-count behavior at a campus landmark |
| `morrow` | 1 s | Morrow Plots + Wright Street corridor | MTD bus-pass detection (for vehicle speed/trajectory) + sidewalk flow |

All three cameras sample at 1 Hz after 2026-04-23T10:50Z. Earlier hours
in the archive use the rates documented in each camera's
`camera_meta.json → capture.interval_change_log`. Filter on the
per-frame `intended_interval_s` field in the metadata to align analyses.

Per-camera location, bearing, and framing notes are in
`metadata/{cam}/camera_meta.json`.

## Format

Shards are WebDataset-compatible tars, one per camera per UTC hour:

```
data/{cam}/{YYYY-MM-DD}/{cam}-{YYYY-MM-DD}-{HH}.tar
```

Each tar contains pairs:

```
{cam}_{YYYY-MM-DD}_{HH-MM-SS}.jpg   — 1280x720 JPEG (q:v 5)
{cam}_{YYYY-MM-DD}_{HH-MM-SS}.json  — capture metadata
```

### Per-frame metadata schema

```json
{
  "ts": "2026-04-23T08:37:05+00:00",
  "ok": true,
  "bytes": 80802,
  "path": "/.../cam_frames/quad/2026-04-23/08-37-05.jpg",
  "camera_id": "quad",
  "intended_interval_s": 10,
  "resolution": "1280xauto",
  "brightness_mean": 0.2431,
  "attempts": 1,
  "err": null
}
```

`brightness_mean` is mean pixel luminance in [0,1] (downsampled to 1x1
grayscale by ffmpeg). Useful for filtering out night frames.

## Example analyses this dataset supports

- **Pedestrian density vs transit delay** (our primary research use): correlate Quad person counts against MTD bus traversal times on adjacent corridors during class-release windows.
- **Statue dwell-time behavior**: for the Alma camera, detect individual visitors, track how long they linger, and plot dwell-time distributions by time-of-day, day-of-week, weather, and academic-calendar events (e.g., parents' weekend, graduation).
- **Vehicle speed/trajectory from consecutive frames** (Morrow): 1 s sampling with a bus visible for ~10–15 s per pass gives 10+ frames per passage — enough to estimate speed from pixel displacement and validate GTFS-Realtime position accuracy.
- **Weather / daylight signal extraction**: the per-frame `brightness_mean` field is a free diurnal / cloud-cover covariate.
- **Action recognition** on the Quad: cyclists and skateboarders crossing at ~5 m/s are visible for ~15 s, so 1 s sampling captures the full trajectory.

## Known limitations

- **Faces**: pedestrians are visible but at 1280-wide resolution and
  camera distances typical of campus overhead views, faces are roughly
  15–25 px tall — not identifiable. No individual-tracking labels are
  included.
- **Night frames**: low contrast; person-detection recall on these frames
  is poor.
- **Alma framing**: the camera points at the statue, not the adjacent
  street. Framing was documented before use, not pivoted.
- **Morrow corridor**: construction equipment (ARC site) is in the
  mid-ground through Spring 2026.
- **Capture gaps**: streaming failures occasionally drop frames. The
  `index.jsonl` records every attempt (success or failure) with `ok` and
  `err` fields.

## Loader (WebDataset)

```python
import webdataset as wds
from huggingface_hub import HfFileSystem

fs = HfFileSystem()
shards = fs.glob("datasets/dr-pod/data-dive-campus-cams/data/quad/2026-04-25/*.tar")
url_list = [f"https://huggingface.co/datasets/dr-pod/data-dive-campus-cams/resolve/main/{p[len('datasets/dr-pod/data-dive-campus-cams/'):]}" for p in shards]
ds = wds.WebDataset(url_list).decode("rgb").to_tuple("jpg", "json")
for img, meta in ds:
    # img is HxWx3 numpy, meta is the per-frame dict
    ...
```

## Suggested citation

```
Darsh Poddar (2026). UIUC Campus Cams (Apr 23 – Apr 29 2026).
Hugging Face. dr-pod/data-dive-campus-cams.
```

## License

Source streams are public UIUC YouTube live broadcasts. This archive is
released for non-commercial research use. Downstream users should verify
YouTube ToS and UIUC broadcast policy before commercial or
redistribution use.

## MTD attribution

This dataset was collected alongside an MTD GTFS-Realtime archive. Per the
[MTD API Terms of Use](https://developer.mtd.org/terms), any use of MTD data
must include the following identification:

> Data provided by the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD).
> For more information, visit [mtd.dev](https://mtd.dev).