What Lantern is

Lantern is a free, public map and directory of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and fixed surveillance cameras across the United States. It exists to make the growing footprint of automated surveillance legible to the people living under it.

Where the data comes from

Every camera shown here is drawn from OpenStreetMap, an open, volunteer-maintained map of the world. Contributors tag surveillance cameras with details such as vendor, mount, and direction. Lantern reads those public tags, groups them by state and city, and plots them. We add no private data of our own.

Methodology & accuracy

This is community-reported data and may contain errors — cameras can be missing, mislabeled, moved, or removed. Vendor attribution reflects the tag a contributor entered and is not verified by the vendor. Counts are a lower bound: they reflect what has been mapped, not everything that exists. Data refreshes periodically from OpenStreetMap; each page shows the date it was last updated.

Why it matters

ALPR networks record where ordinary vehicles travel, often retaining that history for months. Where these cameras sit, and who operates them, is public-interest information. Lantern's aim is transparency, not alarm — the data is presented factually so people can see it and draw their own conclusions. Any opinion on this page is clearly labeled as such.