How CamsAhead counts cameras

Every count on CamsAhead comes from a list or a map that someone else keeps. This page says what each word means, where the numbers come from, and what the map can miss.

If you cite CamsAhead, link here.

What the words mean

Listed

A camera that a city, a state or Caltrans names on its own list. Speed and red light cameras are listed. Each list shows the date CamsAhead last checked it against its source.

Mapped

A point a volunteer added to OpenStreetMap, the free map anyone can edit. License plate readers are mapped, and the US has 145,670 of them on the map as of November 7, 2026. A point is not proof the camera is still there.

First mapped

The day a point first showed up on OpenStreetMap. The map does not know when a camera went up, so the real date may be earlier. 145,663 of the 145,670 plate readers carry one.

Flock-tagged

A plate reader whose maker or brand tag on OpenStreetMap names Flock: 116,710 of the 145,670. A tag can be wrong. A reader without one may still be made by Flock.

Checked

The "Checked" date by a page's count is the day CamsAhead last compared its copy with the source. A ✓ in a plate reader's row means something else: a volunteer noted a visit on the ground. 916 of the 145,670 have one.

Run by

Who runs a plate reader, as a volunteer tagged it. A row says "Not listed yet" when the tag is missing, says only "Police" or the like, or just repeats the maker. 21,493 of the 145,670 name someone.

Unverified

A red light intersection from public records or the news, not from a current city list.

How to read a camera list

Each row is one point on the map. Plate reader rows were mapped by OpenStreetMap volunteers, and none has had a ground check unless it is marked ✓.

"Near ZIP" names a close ZIP code center in the same city, or one just outside any city. When none is close, the row says "Location on map".

"Faces" is the way a volunteer tagged the camera to point, and the map draws it as a cone. A long list keeps the most recently mapped points, sorted by ZIP code, and says how many of the total it shows. The map holds every point.

How each page is made

CamsAhead writes each page type once, then fills it with each place's data from its sources. Two city pages share their wording, while their counts, dates, streets and names differ. No number is typed by hand.

A page with too little of its own stays out of search results until it has more. An area page waits while it has fewer than 5 cameras inside and no speed or red light camera. So does a page that reads too much like another.

A held page stays on the site, and every link to it keeps working, so readers can still find it.

What the map can miss

• Volunteers map what they see. Many plate readers are not on the map yet, and some mapped ones are gone.
• Volunteers' maker and operator tags can be wrong.
• A first-mapped date shows when a point was added, not when the camera went up.
• City lists can lag behind the street. Each one shows the date it was last checked.
• Caltrans traffic cameras cover freeways and state highways only, so city streets are not in that layer.
• An agency list says an agency uses plate readers. It does not say where its readers are.

No map has them all, and this one is no different, since it grows only as volunteers and cities add more.

Agencies that use plate readers

Some pages name agencies that use plate readers, and those names come from the Atlas of Surveillance.

The EFF, a nonprofit group, builds the Atlas with journalism students in Nevada. Its August 2026 data lists 4,090 such agencies.

The Atlas files each agency under the city where it is based, so a county sheriff can show under its home city. Being on the list does not mean an agency runs the readers mapped on a page. CamsAhead uses the Atlas data under CC BY 4.0.

Corrections

Spotted a camera that moved, a wrong count or one that is gone? Tap "Wrong or gone?" on the map, or write on the contact page, and say what you saw and where. Each correction is logged with its date in the change log.

For plate readers, you can also fix the point on OpenStreetMap, and CamsAhead picks up the change with the next snapshot.

Every source, with its license and date: sources and disclaimer.