MapQuest now showing surveillance camera locations across Canada, U.S.

MapQuest users in Canada and the U.S. can now see where some surveillance cameras have been set up in their communities.

Users wanted to know where police had set up licence plate readers, company says

Anya Zoledziowski · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 23, 2026 12:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: 21 minutes ago

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MapQuest users in Canada and the U.S. can now see where some surveillance cameras have been set up in their communities.

The company introduced a "surveillance layer" earlier this week that uses animated eyes to mark where automated licence plate readers, or ALPRs, have been set up by police or others.

"We knew that there were a ton of cameras in use and documented in the U.S. and Canada," MapQuest general manager Doug Berger told CBC News. "You would never know unless they were pointed out to you."

The U.S.-based online mapping service recently went viral, three decades after it launched, after refusing to change the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" following U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order demanding the switch. (Apple and Google changed the lake's name for U.S. users.)

Some three million people in the U.S. and Canada downloaded the app following the move, according to Berger. 

"The coolest part of that experience was people were — and still today people are — telling us exactly what they want," he said.

One of the requests was to be able to see surveillance camera locations, he said.

WATCH | MapQuest goes viral:

MapQuest's Doug Berger on the app's new found popularity after standing strong on Lake Ontario name

September 5|

Duration

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Police have maintained that ALPRs are an effective tool for identifying criminals, stolen vehicles and missing persons, and that most data is quickly deleted.

The data is "used solely for law enforcement purposes by authorized personnel only," according to the Toronto Police Service, for example. 

But a recent CBC News report found that the growing popularity of ALPRs, especially in the U.S., has raised privacy concerns. 

"There are concerns of misuse," the Canadian Civil Liberties Association's Tamir Israel said in August. "It's been documented in the U.S. that these cameras have been misused by police officers to follow ex-partners around and that kind of thing."

The map markings include cameras set up by Flock, the private company whose ALPRs have stirred controversy and vandalism across the U.S. Other companies behind public cameras include Genetec, PlateSmart, Neology and Verkada.

Berger says highlighting ALPR locations is about transparency. 

"We're not taking a political stance against the efficacy of them or anything, but we are bringing forth the visibility of them for people using the MapQuest app in an effort to be transparent," he said.

Camera locations are indicated on the MapQuest mobile app, which is only available to Canadian and U.S. users. The locations are based on open crowd-sourced data from OpenStreetMap.

The locations of licence plate readers like this one in Cornwall, P.E.I., are crowd-sourced data from OpenStreetMap. (CBC)

'Strong visual'

In the app, an icon in the map's lower right corner symbolizes the layers, with one square on top of another. By tapping the icon, a user can select the "surveillance" feature. Within seconds, eyes that shift side to side pop on the screen.

"Our team had a lot of fun with that," Berger said, adding that the eye fit with a few additional Halloween-themed launches. 

"The moving eye was spooky and fit nicely with the theme of the Halloween release," Berger said. "At the moment, we don't see a reason to change it. It gives a good strong visual to go along with the fact that there are cameras." 

As for the sheer number of eyes that pop up in various neighbourhoods: "It's pretty crazy," Berger said. 

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Berger encourages users to keep reaching out with additional requests. For example, new users have also asked the Los Angeles-based company to mark polling locations during elections. The company is trying to do that ahead of the U.S. midterms next month. 

It hopes to launch a similar feature in Canada for future elections, too, he says. 

"It's very consistent with our belief in transparency," Berger said. "It just makes so much sense in a map context."

WATCH | More ALPRs in Canada:

AI-powered surveillance cameras are spreading in Canada

September 5|

Duration

3:48

Automatic licence plate recognition cameras are in the spotlight as citizens across North America question their use by municipalities and law enforcement agencies — with some critics calling them a tool for ‘mass surveillance.’ One company in particular, Flock Safety, has found itself at the heart of the debate and while the company’s tech has yet to be used in Canada, greater awareness about these AI-powered cameras is raising questions about how Canadian ALPR camera makers operate.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anya Zoledziowski is a Peabody-winning multimedia journalist from Edmonton who's covered social and climate justice, Indigenous affairs, gender, politics and more, and has been recognized by several national and international awards. She’s currently pursuing her PhD in journalism studies.