
Where are the Eyes is a program for detecting and mapping surveillance cameras - aoeuaoeu123
https://github.com/DaylightingSociety/WhereAreTheEyes
======
chippy
You need to provide the data.

You should also specify the terms of contributions and a license of the data.

People will be more encourage to contribute if they know that their free work
is benefiting others, and not just the project owners. Looking at the code,
there is an API route, it says that the data is not confidential, but that
it's only for admin users because you don't want people hitting the service
too much. In this case, I would suggest providing daily or weekly dumps of the
data. (You could also benefit from seeing the growth over time).

So, provide the data, make the data open. Think about the license of the data.
What's different from Google doing this? Why would anyone want to contribute
to this project, and not say a project from Microsoft? Is having open source a
differentiator? What benefit to the contributor does having the code as open
source provide, if they cannot get the data. Differentiate your project and
encourage actual crowdsourced contributions by specifying that it is open DATA
and specify your terms for contributing.

~~~
lucb1e
I just sent an email (before seeing your comment) asking after the data
license. If it's an open license, it could be integrated with existing
services like OpenStreetMap which 1) allows many more people to benefit from
the data; and 2) allows users of this project to benefit from existing OSM
data.

Let's see what they say.

Edit: 39 minutes later (that was quite quick!):

> Whoops, good catch! That is absolutely not our intention, give me a bit and
> I’ll extend the license to cover GPS data for camera positions.

> We are considering closer integration with OpenStreetMap. We already use
> them for all of our map backend, but don’t currently store our camera data
> in OSM. There are some concerns about corrupting their data with non-
> existent cameras, particularly if someone scripts interacting with Where are
> the Eyes. While the data is under our control we can try to detect bots and
> roll back their changes, but we don’t want to be “rolling back” parts of
> OpenStreetMap.

> I definitely agree about adding the cameras from OSM to Where are the Eyes,
> and periodically copying the Where are the Eyes data to OSM, but I am less
> comfortable with completely integrating the two.

I won't go into detail about issues and solutions I see with either option,
but they seem to be considering things carefully, and I guess that's not a bad
thing.

------
rmc
It's not sure where the data comes from. OpenStreetMap, of course, has a way
to tag and store survelliance cameras[1]. There are some maps already using
this data on a map:

    
    
        https://kamba4.crux.uberspace.de/
    
    

[1]
[https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dsurveilla...](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:man_made%3Dsurveillance)

~~~
pella
and the stats :

[https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/man_made=surveillance...](https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/tags/man_made=surveillance#map)

------
scandox
One of the things I intuited from working with Security Camera businesses, was
that, in fact, the authorities had a very low awareness of all the cameras and
camera footage available to them. You may want to consider whether this will,
in the short term, actually aid them in identifying sources.

~~~
chopin
That would be security by obscurity. Especially in this case, we shouldn't
rely on it.

------
sputr
Well this sounds exactly like the project I ran for the local Pirate Party
during Slovenian elections - nadzorovan.si ("you are monitored" in Slovenian).

You can see the map of cameras here:
[http://nadzorovan.si/zemljevid](http://nadzorovan.si/zemljevid) (we targeted
the capital city center for coverage).

Anyway the original hack was simple - you use your normal camera with
geotagging enabled (and a sports app running in the background for better GPS
coords) and take pictures of cameras. Activists than sent it to me, I ran it
through a basic PHP script that resized the images, stripped the EXIF data and
constructed a JSON that was displayed on a map.

We upgraded it to the current status - nadzorovan.si - a year later but due to
time constraints have been unable to finish the mobile apps that simplify the
image taking and upload experience and enables us to incorporate non-Pirate
activists. The code will be open sourced (it kind of already is, it just isn't
on github) and the dataset is entirely public.

We plan to restart the project in the spring. There are a whole host of issues
with a project like this - if anyone's interested I can go into details.

I should note the project was very well received in the public.

~~~
Bedon292
That is very cool. And a nice way to make it happen. Any ideas how to include
direction they are facing? Or general direction? Something like the compass
data plus the angle of the camera in the photo?

------
RileyJames
I've been traveling through Europe recently and have been shocked by the sheer
number of surveillance cameras in public spaces. It's not uncommon to see 3 -
5 cameras on a single pole.

There is no indication regarding who owns each camera, when it's recording
(presumed always), if it has audio, the purpose of the camera and how long the
data is retained. This project is awesome, and could be the first step to
answering the above questions (and more) for each camera.

~~~
q-base
Sounds a lot like UK. As someone else pointed out - Europe is way to diverse
to call as a single entity with this scope. Large cities in UK are quite
heavily monitored, but if you look at Europe in general, then the surveillance
is centered around government buildings, embassies etc.

In Denmark you can have quite a lot of cameras in shops and outside petrol
stations, which is the business owners way to up their security. But those are
NOT allowed to film anything facing away from the premises, meaning you can't
just film people on the street from these cameras.

~~~
dasboth
> those are NOT allowed to film anything facing away from the premises

Makes sense, but any idea how they verify this? Would someone report a camera
they think is facing outwards and this would be investigated? Or are there
random checks?

~~~
q-base
To the best of my knowledge, it's not enforced. And if it is, it is probably
only when someone feels violated and as you say report it. I'm pretty sure the
control is next to nonexistent.

------
4ad
A friend of mine was biking along a river in rural UK and stopped to take a
piss. While he was relieving himself, he heard a zzzzz sound coming from
somewhere. On closer inspection a camera mounted on a decommissioned telephone
pole was moving, tracking him.

This is not the world I want to live in.

~~~
Symbiote
Seems very unlikely. Why would a rural river be monitored, especially with a
motorized camera?

An urban river (or canal) is much more likely. I don't know if the statistics
back up the perception, but these places are often considered unsafe at night
-- poor lighting, not many people around, usually only two directions to run.

------
q-base
Cool project. You could end up with somewhat of a goldmine of data. Even with
quite a bit of interest for the local government. Here in Denmark, they talked
about making a register that the government could access in cases where the
investigation warrented it(whatever that means). The point being; that no one
seems to have an overview of all cameras present. The law here, as I
understand it, prohibits businesses and private people from filming anything
other than their own premises and directly in front of. But some probably film
more and could be useful in mapping 'suspects' routes to and from the crime.

~~~
vlodiag
Big brother is watching. Europe is so concerned about privacy (e.g. google,
facebook), but on the other hand goverments does this and no one bats an eye.
Like you noticed it's not really clear who uses those cameras, how they are
controlled, how they are protected from hackers and what if someone just add
his own camera that looks just the same.

~~~
yorwba
> goverments does this and no one bats an eye

> Like you noticed it's not really clear who uses those cameras

I think you missed that parent was talking about "businesses and private
people" using cameras and government wanting to have a register of camera
ownership.

From my experience in Germany, surveillance cameras you see in public will be

1\. in train stations: there are warning signs to notify you that you will be
filmed

2\. outside an apartment building, pointing at the door (to discourage
burglars)

3\. inside a store, pointing out the front window (burglars again)

4\. on private property, surveilling said property (trespassers and burglars)

All of these uses are subject to regulation concerning how much public space
can be filmed. There was a case of a murderer/rapist (can't remember exactly)
being caught walking by a store's front camera. The police were happy to take
the tip, but the storeowner was still fined for violating the regulations.

------
chaz6
It would be nice if this data was made available as a standard format for
consumption in other systems, such as OGC WFS.

~~~
mobiuscog
Even a way to view the data on their own site would be a good start.

------
oneeyedpigeon
Is there any way of seeing the map of cameras nearby without downloading the
app?

------
jpalomaki
One option to reduce the risk of bots or otherwise false data would be to
request people to submit picture of the camera.

------
dfc
I can't figure out what the app does to "detect" surveillance cameras?

