Somebody's Watching

Kegz.net posts a link to open-loop.org, a Chicago Surveillance Camera Mapping Project.

Open-Loop.org is a collective that documents the video surveillance in Chicago’s downtown area, commonly known as the Loop. Our efforts reveal that an enormous percentage of public space in downtown Chicago is continuously monitored by surveillance devices. Whether operated by government or private entities, these devices establish a constant watch on the activities taking place in much of the Loop.

This site reminds me of a graphic I clipped from The New York Times many years ago that showed security cameras in a section of midtown Manhattan. What separates the NYT graphic from open-loop's is that the former showed a "cone of surveillance" for each camera. Looking at it, one realized that unwatched ground was less than watched ground, a fact open-loop is corroborating, but with less visual success, as their text-based maps only locate the cameras and indicate what type (private, traffic/police, city, government). What open-loop lacks in 2d illustration it makes up for with photographs of the cameras themselves - in street and close-up views - and in it's slightly humorous "meet the cameras" section.

Update 11.19: Here's a page with many relevant links at Archinect, including coverage of Chicago's emergency center covering an estimate 2,000 cameras eventually.