Vancam MCP server

Vancam MCP Server

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.shughestr/vancam-mcp -->

Vancam.ai — Traffic Cameras & Road Conditions — as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. Gives AI agents live access to the same camera network behind Vancam's road-condition data: over 1 million traffic cameras worldwide, searchable by map bounds, radius, route, or nearest point.

• 🔍 Search cameras by bounding box, radius, route corridor, or nearest-to-point
• 📸 Fetch live frames by camera asset ID, returned directly in the tool result
• 🌐 Real-time data from the same backend that powers the Vancam.ai map
• 🤖 AI-ready — built with FastMCP, works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and any MCP-compatible client

Quick Start

Option A: Install from PyPI

uvx vancam-mcp   # or: pip install vancam-mcp

Option B: Clone and install dependencies

git clone https://github.com/shughestr/vancam-mcp.git
cd vancam-mcp
pip install -r requirements.txt

2. (Optional) Set up an API key

Requests work out of the box using a shared, rate-limited key (1 req/s, 500/month, pooled across all anonymous users). For higher limits, grab a free personal key from your Vancam.ai account page and set it as an environment variable:

cp .env.example .env   # then edit .env

# .env
VANCAM_API_KEY=your_personal_key_here

3. Register the server with your MCP client

For Claude Desktop or Claude Code, add to your MCP config. If installed from PyPI (Option A):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vancam": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["vancam-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VANCAM_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

If running from a local clone (Option B, see .mcp.json in this repo):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vancam": {
      "command": "python3",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/vancam-mcp/vancam_mcp/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "VANCAM_API_KEY": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

VANCAMAPIKEY is optional — leave it blank to use the shared, rate-limited key.

Restart your client, and the tools below become available.

Available Tools

list_cameras

List cameras within a bounding box — the same query the VanCam map runs on pan/zoom.

list_cameras(min_lat=49.2, min_lon=-123.2, max_lat=49.3, max_lon=-123.0, limit=50)

getcamerasby_radius

Get cameras within a radius of a point.

get_cameras_by_radius(lat=49.28, lon=-123.12, radius=1.0, limit=20)

getcamerasalong_route

Get cameras along a straight-line corridor between two points.

get_cameras_along_route(
    origin_lat=49.2827, origin_lon=-123.1207,
    dest_lat=49.1666, dest_lon=-123.1367,
    buffer=200.0, limit=50
)

Results are sorted by route_fraction (0 = origin, 1 = destination). Note: this is a straight line between the two points, not a driving route.

getnearestcameras

Get the closest cameras to a point.

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.