Flock license plate readers, traffic cameras and public cameras near any US ZIP code
This map shows Flock Safety license plate readers, other plate readers and other cameras that volunteers have added to OpenStreetMap anywhere in the United States, plus live pictures from state and city traffic cameras in the states that share them. Type a ZIP code or address, use your location, or click the map, and the page lists every camera within 10 miles, counts the Flock cameras within a mile and shows the nearest one. Click a traffic camera to see its latest picture, or any camera to open Street View there.
How to use it
- The map opens on the whole country with no point set. Type a ZIP code, address or place and press Find, press "Use my location", or press "Pick a point on the map" and click the map.
- Wait a moment while the page looks up cameras within 10 miles. Traffic cameras usually appear first, then plate readers and other mapped cameras.
- Read the counts at the top of the side panel: cameras shown, Flock cameras within 1 mile, live traffic pictures shown, and the nearest Flock camera. Use the distance slider, the camera kind checkboxes and the search box to narrow the map and the list.
- Click a camera on the map or in the list to see which way it points and who runs it, open Street View or Mapillary at that spot, and for traffic cameras see the latest picture from the agency.
Methodology and sources
Plate readers and other cameras come from OpenStreetMap: when you set a point, this site's camera lookup asks the Overpass API for every point tagged man_made=surveillance within about 10 miles, using the point rounded to about half a mile, and caches the answer for hours so repeat lookups do not reach Overpass. Cameras whose maker or brand is Flock Safety are shown as Flock plate readers; most were mapped by volunteers through the DeFlock project. Other cameras tagged surveillance:type=ALPR are shown as other plate readers, and the rest as other mapped cameras. Traffic cameras come from the public camera lists that state and city transportation agencies publish without a key, refreshed every week; each picture loads straight from the agency. States whose lists are blocked to automated use, need a key, or share only video are left out and listed on the page. ZIP codes are matched to the center of the Census Bureau ZIP Code Tabulation Area. Distances are straight-line miles worked out in your browser.
FAQ
Where does the camera data come from?
Flock and other cameras come from OpenStreetMap, where volunteers, many through the DeFlock project, record where cameras are. Traffic cameras and their pictures come from the public camera lists of state and city transportation agencies, such as Caltrans, WSDOT, Georgia DOT and VDOT. No private camera feeds and nothing found by scanning the internet are used.
Is every Flock camera on the map?
No. Volunteers map these cameras, so some are missing and a few may have been removed since they were recorded. You can add a missing camera at deflock.me, and it appears here the next time the data is refreshed.
Does the page send my location anywhere?
A ZIP code is looked up on this site. To find nearby cameras, the page sends your point, rounded to about half a mile, to this site's camera lookup, which asks OpenStreetMap; the point is not saved. "Use my location" asks your browser first. If you search for an address, only the text you type goes to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim search service.
What is a Flock camera?
Flock Safety makes automatic license plate readers that photograph passing cars and record plate numbers and vehicle details. Police departments, neighborhood associations and businesses install them.
What area does the map cover?
The whole United States for plate readers and other mapped cameras. Live traffic camera pictures cover the states whose transportation agencies share an open camera list; the map page lists them and explains why the others are missing.
Can you build a map like this for my area or data?
Yes. We build maps and dashboards over public and private data sources with automated refresh. Start a custom build from the contact page.
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