Data provenance

Every useful number starts with a source.

PlateReaderMap keeps collection method, retrieval time, and known limitations close to each derived dataset.

01

Camera locations

Community-maintained OpenStreetMap objects tagged as automated license plate reader surveillance are the primary camera-location source.

Coverage depends on volunteer mapping and may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect.

02

Geographic boundaries

State, county, and incorporated-place assignments use the pinned U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb ACS 2025 geography service and stable geographic identifiers.

Boundary assignment is a geographic join, not a claim about agency ownership or operating jurisdiction.

03

Historical snapshots

PlateReaderMap preserves validated source snapshots from its own tracking start date and compares stable source records over time.

A mapping addition or removal is not, by itself, proof that physical equipment was installed or removed.

04

Released audit records

The optional plate lookup accepts only lawfully obtained public audit/search releases with batch-level provenance.

The corpus is not a complete record of all searches or every time a vehicle may have passed an ALPR camera.