MapQuest has added an optional “Surveillance Layer” that maps the known locations of automated license plate readers and other outdoor cameras. The feature puts a spotlight on a technology that is spreading quickly across American roads and drawing growing scrutiny.

Users can switch the layer on in Map Options, where it sits next to the traffic and incidents layers. Each location appears as an eyeball icon on the map. MapQuest announced the rollout on social media with the line “The Roads Have Eyes!”

The layer covers Flock Safety, Motorola Solutions’ Vigilant, Genetec, Axis Communications, Axon, Leonardo’s ELSAG, Neology, Rekor, PlateSmart, Ubicquia and Verkada, along with other outdoor surveillance cameras. Flock alone has deployed more than 100,000 of its cameras across the country.

The map data has limits. The camera locations are crowdsourced, so users can add devices they spot. Gizmodo reported that MapQuest may be drawing on DeFlock and the OpenStreetMap project, though the company has not confirmed its sources. The layer shows reported locations, not a verified inventory of every operating camera, so unmapped devices may still capture a driver’s plate.

The cameras themselves remain a flashpoint. Flock says its cameras help law enforcement solve crimes and find missing persons. Supporters point to cases in which the technology helped locate missing seniors, catch car thieves and supply evidence in high-profile prosecutions.

Critics point to the potential for abuse. The Washington Post reported this summer that it found nearly 50 instances of police officers charged or accused of using the cameras for unauthorized purposes, many involving the tracking of current or former romantic partners or family members. A U.S. judge has also ruled that one police Flock search amounted to unconstitutional mass surveillance. Some communities have vandalized the cameras, while lawmakers in other places have shut them down.

The launch also comes as MapQuest tries to rebuild its profile. The company has declined to adopt the Gulf of America name, even after the federal Geographic Names Information System officially updated it. Gizmodo cast the company’s recent moves as an effort to become the official navigation platform of “the resistance.” That framing suggests the camera layer is as much a political statement as a product update.

For drivers, the practical takeaway matches what outlets across the spectrum have noted. The layer offers transparency about where reported cameras sit along a route, not a way to avoid being tracked.

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