The CCTV Mesh layer plots publicly accessible traffic and infrastructure cameras on the map. Camera feeds are stored in a local SQLite database (cctv.db) and refreshed every 10 minutes by the scheduler.
The CCTV Mesh layer is off by default. It is a dense layer — enable it when you want to investigate a specific city or region.
Sources
Four official public data sources are ingested automatically:
| Source | Agency | Coverage | Refresh rate | API key |
|---|
| TfL JamCams | Transport for London | London, UK | 10 min | No |
| TxDOT / Austin Mobility | Austin, TX TxDOT | Austin, TX, US | 10 min | No |
| NYC DOT | New York City DOT | New York City, US | 10 min | No |
| Singapore LTA | Land Transport Authority | Singapore | 10 min | Yes (LTA_ACCOUNT_KEY) |
TfL JamCams (London)
Fetches from https://api.tfl.gov.uk/Place/Type/JamCam. Each camera returns a videoUrl (preferred) or imageUrl for the live feed, plus the camera’s street-level commonName for location context. TfL JamCams refresh at 15-second intervals.
Austin TxDOT
Fetches from the City of Austin Open Data portal (data.austintexas.gov) with a limit of 2,000 records. Live images are served at https://cctv.austinmobility.io/image/{cam_id}.jpg.
NYC DOT
Fetches from https://webcams.nyctmc.org/api/cameras. Live images are served at https://webcams.nyctmc.org/api/cameras/{cam_id}/image. NYC DOT cameras refresh at 30-second intervals.
Singapore LTA
Fetches from https://api.data.gov.sg/v1/transport/traffic-images. Camera IDs are prefixed SGP-. Requires an LTA_ACCOUNT_KEY environment variable. Singapore LTA cameras refresh every 60 seconds.
Custom URL ingestion
In addition to the four official sources, ShadowBroker supports ingestion of custom camera URLs. Any URL pointing to a compatible feed type can be added and will appear on the map.
Feed rendering
The frontend automatically detects the correct rendering method for each camera URL:
| Media type | Detection rule | Rendering method |
|---|
video | URL ends with .mp4, .webm, or .ogg | HTML <video> element |
mjpeg | URL contains .mjpg, .mjpeg, or axis-cgi/mjpg | MJPEG stream via <img> |
hls | URL contains .m3u8 or hls | HLS player |
embed | URL contains embed, maps/embed, or iframe | <iframe> embed |
satellite | URL contains mapbox.com or satellite | Satellite tile render |
image | All other URLs | Static <img> refreshed on interval |
_detect_media_type() and is stored alongside each camera record.
Database schema
Cameras are stored in a SQLite database at backend/cctv.db:
CREATE TABLE cameras (
id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
source_agency TEXT,
lat REAL,
lon REAL,
direction_facing TEXT,
media_url TEXT,
refresh_rate_seconds INTEGER,
last_updated TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);
TFL-{id}, ATX-{id}, NYC-{id}, SGP-{id}.
Map display
Cameras are displayed as green dot markers that cluster at low zoom levels with count labels. Clicking a cluster zooms the map to decluster. Clicking an individual camera marker opens the live feed in the SIGINT panel.