Guides

Everything you can do with SparrowMap, and how. Pick a path.

Start here

📖 How SparrowMap works
What it is, what it watches, and the privacy promises — plates destroyed at the camera, only government vehicles published.

Add coverage

📷 Add a camera
Turn a spare phone or PC into a camera node in a couple of taps. The easiest way to put your street on the map.
🎥 Add an IP camera
Already have a wifi or PoE camera pointed at a road? Point it at SparrowMap with an RTSP link. Includes which cameras work and how to mount them.

Build your own

🔌 Contribute via the API
Feed sightings from your own code or device using two endpoints. For a Pi, an SBC, or a custom rig.
🚗 Raspberry Pi dashcam node NEW
A Pi 5 and a $15 GPS dongle on the dash: starts with the ignition, never records your route. A USB webcam to spot patrol cars; a 12 V Reolink and --plates to read plates and keep the government ones.
📷 ESP32-CAM with no network NEW
A $10 camera that never joins WiFi: stills cross an encrypted radio hop to a second board on a Pi, and the Pi does the rest. For a gate, a checkpoint, or a spot with no wire and no signal. Built by Lucian H.
📡 RF scanner BETA
No camera needed. Find surveillance cameras — and help confirm police vehicles by their in-car gear — from an Android phone, a Raspberry Pi, or a cheap ESP32.
📷 Report a camera BETA
See a Flock or ALPR camera on a pole? Photograph it right in your browser — no app, no sign-in. A reviewer checks every one before it hits the map.
🛒 What to buy NEW
Plug-and-play picks for people who don't want to build — the best radar detector, camera (IR / webcam / IP), plane, drone and radio device, and what works right in a browser.
🛠️ Build or buy sensors NEW
Every way to feed the map from your own gear — planes, drones, police radio, radar, plate readers, dashcams — with a build route and a buy route, prices, and the plug-and-play node plan.
📡 Radar screen BETA
Watch live police speed-radar sources near you appear and fade in real time. Ka band is police-only. Fed by paired detector hardware; tap Demo to see it work with none.

Set up your own sensors

🧰 Setup overview NEW
Step-by-step for every hardware feed, starting with the node token each one needs. Run any feeder with --simulate first to see it work with no hardware.
📡 Set up radar BETA
Pair a Bluetooth radar detector and run the bridge so speed traps show up live on the map and the radar screen.
✈️ Set up ADS-B planes BETA
An RTL-SDR + dump1090 on a Pi feeds locally-received aircraft into the map, with orbit detection for circling helicopters.
🛸 Set up drone detection BETA
A $10 ESP32 hears drones broadcasting Remote ID — and often the operator's location — and posts them as live points.
📻 Set up police radio BETA
An RTL-SDR + trunk-recorder shows where a scanner is hearing active P25 dispatch. Area, not a pinpoint; encryption varies by county.

Review & trust

✅ Review the queue
Confirm or reject what the cameras caught. Nothing reaches the public map without a human.
👁️ Transparency
Exactly what is kept, what is thrown away, and why. The rules the whole project is built on.
🧅 Access over Tor
Reach the map as a .onion service — harder to block, and nobody sees you visit. Works in Tor Browser or Brave.

Open source, free, and privacy-first. Compute stays on your device, video never leaves it, and only public government vehicles are ever published.