· National · Transparency
MapQuest adds a Surveillance Layer showing known Flock cameras and other license plate readers
MapQuest has added a "Surveillance Layer" to its app that shows the locations of known license plate readers and outdoor surveillance cameras, Engadget, The Verge and Gizmodo reported on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. MapQuest announced the feature in a social media post on Thursday, Oct. 15, saying users can turn on the layer in Map Options to see known license plate readers from Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions (Vigilant), Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo (ELSAG), Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia, Verkada and other outdoor surveillance cameras, according to Gizmodo. The layer sits alongside the app's existing traffic and incident overlays and appears as eyeball icons on the map, The Verge and Engadget reported. MapQuest did not say where its camera location data comes from; Gizmodo and GovTech said it appears similar to the volunteer-mapped data collected by the DeFlock project and OpenStreetMap, and Gizmodo said it had asked MapQuest for details. For Flock's Sake's own camera map and counts also come from cameras reported on OpenStreetMap, mostly mapped by DeFlock volunteers.
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