Key Finding: A refreshed public-data snapshot identifies 980 reported automated license plate reader (ALPR) records within Allegheny County. This is a fuller view than ADI’s August 27 extract of 114 records. It does not mean that 866 cameras were installed during the past month. These are volunteer reports, not an official inventory or a verified count of distinct, active cameras.
What the Data Shows: Of the original 114 records, 104 appear in the current extract. The update contains 876 additional records, while 10 original records do not appear in the current ALPR extract. Their absence does not establish that those cameras were removed.
The manufacturer field identifies 225 records as Flock Safety. Other reported manufacturers include Motorola Solutions, Genetec, Axis Communications, and others. Another record lists both Flock Safety and PlateSmart/CyclopsTchnlgs. This map covers reported ALPRs across manufacturers, not only Flock products.
An operator is not recorded for 890 of the 980 records, or about 91%. A manufacturer is missing or marked unknown for 132 records, or about 13%. Missing details limit what we can say about who runs the systems. A reported manufacturer does not identify the operator or establish an agency’s data-sharing practices.
The updated interactive map marks records also present in the original extract in black and additional records in red. Readers can filter by manufacturer, operator, and comparison status. Each marker links to its OpenStreetMap record. “Additional” means additional to ADI’s earlier extract; it does not mean newly installed.
Analysis: The biggest change is the completeness of the public record available for this brief. The original script drew from a DeFlock-associated repository’s nationwide download. When retrieved again on September 29, that file still yielded the same 114 county records, while its separate county summary reported 446. Those files do not provide a consistent current inventory.
Finding Flock offers a useful cross-check, but it is not an independent second set of camera sightings. Both projects draw on OpenStreetMap. Its September 29 camera archive contains 979 county records, all matching IDs in our direct OpenStreetMap extract. The one additional record in our extract was created later that day, after the Finding Flock archive’s build time.
There is clear evidence that the larger count cannot be treated as a month of new installations: 662 of the 876 additional records were last edited in OpenStreetMap before the original August 27 retrieval. Those records were already present upstream. Differences in source coverage and processing account for much of the apparent increase.
There are also records that share identical coordinates: the 980 records occupy 959 distinct coordinate pairs. Separate cameras can share a mounting location, but duplicate reporting is possible too. We retain the separate OpenStreetMap IDs and do not claim they represent 980 independently verified physical cameras.
This fuller map strengthens the starting point for civic questions: Who owns and operates these systems? How long are plate records kept? Who can search them? What data-sharing rules and public oversight apply? Camera locations alone cannot answer those questions or establish effects on crime, unequal exposure, or surveillance access.
Call to Action: Improve Documentation and Oversight
Residents can help improve the public record by reporting cameras they can identify accurately and safely through DeFlock’s reporting tools or OpenStreetMap. Observe from lawful public locations, do not interfere with equipment, and avoid sharing personal information or readable license plates.
Public agencies can help by publishing camera inventories, contracts, retention policies, sharing rules, and access audits. Better location data and clearer operating policies give residents a stronger basis for informed discussion.
Method: ADI queried OpenStreetMap nodes tagged surveillance:type=ALPR through the Overpass API. A bounding-box query covered the county; a point-in-polygon test using the U.S. Census Bureau’s TIGERweb county boundary for GEOID 42003 selected 980 records. IDs were checked for uniqueness. Manufacturer uses the manufacturer tag, falling back to brand where necessary; tag text is preserved rather than merging uncertain vendor names.
Records were compared by OpenStreetMap node ID with the saved August 27 CSV. The refreshed map uses a more detailed official county boundary than the original repository layer. Applying the original boundary to the current query yields 975 records; the official boundary yields 980. Counts therefore should not be presented as a directly comparable installation trend.
Finding Flock’s cameras-20260929141323.pmtiles archive was extracted at its highest zoom level, where its metadata shows no point dropping. Tile-buffer duplicates were removed by OpenStreetMap ID, and features were filtered to the same county boundary. The result contains 979 IDs, all found in the direct extract. Archived tile coordinates are slightly rounded; the published ADI map uses the direct OpenStreetMap coordinates.
No field inspection was performed. Reports can be incomplete, duplicated, outdated, or incorrect; presence does not verify current operation, and absence does not establish that an area is camera-free. An edit timestamp is not an installation date. Data snapshots and comparison files accompany this update for reproducibility.
Sources
- OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenStreetMap, current ALPR-tagged records through the Overpass API, September 29, 2026. Camera database © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL).
- Finding Flock, Methodology and Download the data, September 29, 2026.
- U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb State and County service, Allegheny County boundary, retrieved September 29, 2026.
- FoggedLens/deflockhopper_maps, nationwide camera download and county summary, retrieved September 29, 2026; ADI’s saved August 27 extract.
- DeFlock, Report Cameras.
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