LiveLocation shows thousands of live views from around the world. Every one of them is there because its owner, or a public agency, chose to share it with the public. This page explains the rules we follow, what we refuse to show, how the cameras play, and how you can tell us when something is wrong.
The rule: published on purpose
A camera can appear on LiveLocation only if all of these are true:
- Its owner or a public authority published it for people to watch. That means an official open-data feed or camera list, a public stream with embedding turned on, an official widget or player from the camera’s network, or a submission from the owner through our Add your camera form.
- The license allows it. The owner’s terms must allow a site like ours to show it, including next to ads.
- It shows an outdoor or genuinely public place, framed wide: a road, a beach, a skyline, a harbor, a mountain, a park, a town square, the sky.
- It is not close up on people. No doorbells, shop counters, cash machines or faces filling the frame.
- We can show it without recording, re-hosting or changing it.
What we never show
- Unsecured or private cameras. Some websites list cameras whose owners never meant them to be public, found because they still use a default password or none at all. We are the opposite of those sites. We never list such cameras, and we never import lists from them.
- Private spaces. No cameras inside homes, and none pointed into homes, yards, windows, bathrooms, changing rooms, children’s facilities or private work areas.
- Raw camera addresses. Our system refuses direct camera device addresses, raw IP addresses, private network names and camera protocols such as RTSP. A stream must come from a public platform or the owner’s own secure (HTTPS) website.
What we never do
- We never scan the internet for cameras or use scanning tools and search engines for exposed devices.
- We never record, store, archive or re-host footage.
- We never use face recognition, license-plate reading, or any tracking or identification of people.
- We never offer “zoom and enhance” or any tool that changes what a camera shows.
- We never connect camera views with personal information, such as who lives or works at a place.
These bans are written into our software as well as this policy: every camera address is checked against them before it can reach a page.
Where our cameras come from
- Public agencies: road and transport departments, weather services, geological surveys, parks and observatories that publish their cameras as open data.
- Live streams on YouTube and similar platforms, chosen by our editors, where the owner has allowed embedding.
- Camera networks that offer official public players for sharing.
- Owners who add their own cameras. They confirm that they own the camera or are authorized by its owner, that it films an outdoor or public space, that signs and audio follow local law, and that we may show it. They prove ownership by placing a short code in the stream’s description or on their website, and a person reviews the camera before it is listed. Owners can withdraw at any time, and the camera is hidden at once.
Each source and its license is listed on Our sources, and every camera page names and links to its owner.
How the cameras play
We do not touch the video. Every stream, clip and still image plays in your browser straight from its owner’s server or platform, in the way the owner allows:
- YouTube streams play in YouTube’s own player, using its privacy-enhanced mode, and load only when you press Play.
- Other networks play in their own official players.
- Agency still images load from the agency and refresh at the agency’s own pace, never faster.
- Some cameras can only be watched on the owner’s site. For those we show a “Watch at the source” button.
Our servers keep only information about each camera: its name, location, type, source and status. When an owner stops a stream or takes a camera down, it stops on LiveLocation too.
Is it live? How we check
Many camera sites show cameras that died long ago. We try hard not to. Every camera carries a status: Live now, Still image with its age, Intermittent, or Offline. We keep it current in two ways:
- Background checks. Our system checks cameras on a rotating schedule, gently and within each provider’s limits.
- Viewers’ browsers. When a camera loads for a viewer, or fails to load, the browser sends us a tiny signal with only the camera number and “worked” or “failed”. It carries no personal information. If several different viewers cannot play a camera, it is marked Intermittent and re-checked right away.
An offline camera says so plainly, with the time it was last seen working, so you never wait on a blank screen. Cameras that stay missing for a month are retired from the map.
Quality and privacy rules for listings
- We place cameras where they really are and describe what you are looking at.
- Our descriptions are about places, never about people who appear on screen.
- Partner or featured cameras, if we add them, will always be labeled, and their status stays honest.
- We follow each provider’s display rules: credits, branding, player sizes, and no overlays on their players.
Tell us when something is wrong
Every camera page has a “Report this camera” link, and you can also use our report form. What happens next depends on the report:
- Privacy concern (it shows inside a home, you, or a child) or inappropriate content: the camera is hidden at once, before anyone reviews it, and we review it within 24 hours.
- “This is my camera, please remove it” or a copyright concern: cameras from non-government sources are hidden at once; government feeds are reviewed quickly.
- Not working, wrong place or wrong name: queued for a fix, and re-checked automatically when several people report it.
Camera owners, agencies and people in view can find the full removal process on Remove a camera. For anything else, write to us through the Staricon contact page.