License plate readers in Ames, IA
Volunteers have documented 37 automated license plate readers inside Ames. That is the 5th-largest total among the 20 Iowa cities indexed here, and 4.6% of the statewide total. Its 1.3 readers per square mile spread across 28.2 square miles — thinner coverage than 61% of the 2,231 cities indexed nationally. Every one of them is a Flock Safety unit. Volunteers also recorded non-government operators here, including Lowe's. Where a mount was recorded, volunteers logged 25 on poles and 3 on street lamps.
Updated August 14, 2026.
37
readers documented
1.3
per square mile
5th
of 20 indexed Iowa cities
4.6%
of Iowa’s documented total
Dot colors follow the manufacturer legend below. Boundary: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 Cartographic Boundary Files. Locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Who makes them
- Flock Safety37 · 100%
What volunteers recorded
- Monitoring public roads
- 32 cameras are tagged as watching public streets or traffic.
- Recorded operators
- Iowa State University Police Department (24), Lowe's (3), Story County Sheriff's Department (1). Who operates these cameras nationally →
- How they’re mounted
- pole (25), street lamp (3), traffic signal (1)
- Coverage area
- 28.2 square miles of land inside city limits.
Nearby
Learn more: What a Flock camera looks like · How ALPRs work
These locations were documented in the field by OpenStreetMap volunteers and refresh automatically every six hours. They are evidence of where cameras have been seen — not a complete or official inventory, and cameras may have been added or removed since documentation. Corrections happen upstream: edit OpenStreetMap and this page will update. Read more in our methodology.