What we are seeing
Charleston Pulse.
Permits, roads, medians, projects, and Flock / ALPR cameras on one Lowcountry map. Patterns we track — not predictions. Statewide view: SC Pulse.
Permits refreshed July 25, 2026 · 5,474 on the map.
What changed
How to use it
See the pattern before you buy.
Charleston keeps changing: permits filed, roads programmed, medians shifting, megaprojects announced. Pulse layers public data so you can read where growth is heading. Not as a guarantee, but as a research starting point. Click empty map for a parcel summary; tap any dot for detail.
Verified layers: filed permits, live FEMA flood zones, school locations, and SCDOT 2025 AADT count stations. Observed: area medians, programmed road projects, employer anchors. Projected: outer-ring proposals. Counts and vintages load with the map. Verify anything material independently before acting.
Market geography
Recent sales and migration corridors.
Toggle the Recent sales and Migration corridors layers above for Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester. Pulse stays focused on permits, flood, roads, and growth.
Where money is going
Lowcountry growth signals we are watching.
Not investment advice. Live permit counts from public filings plus a plain-language read of where capital is clustering. Growth signals updated July 25, 2026: Stokes Automotive’s $4M Bonanza / Savannah Hwy land buy, Costco Ingleside, Restore II at Point Hope, Gather MTP, Patriots Annex, the I-26 big-box belt, and parks-bond dirt in West Ashley and Johns Island.
Who is building
Builders pulling the most volume right now.
A plain read on who is filing new-home and townhome permits across Summerville, Goose Creek, Cainhoy, and the rest of the metro. Rankings move as permit offices refresh.
What's ahead
Mega projects and capital bets we are watching.
A forward read on where big money is aimed across the metro. Public records and reporting only. Not verified predictions.
Policy gates
What can speed up or stall the next wave.
Why we track this
License plate cameras sit on the same roads you drive home.
Pulse already shows permits, roads, and growth. Flock / ALPR cameras are another public layer on those roads: solar-powered readers that photograph plates as cars pass and send the data into a searchable network. Most plates belong to people suspected of nothing. South Carolina has no statewide oversight ordinance governing how long that data is kept or who outside the county can query it.
- Buying is also choosing a commute. Schools, flood zones, and new construction matter. So does knowing whether plate readers sit on the routes between home, work, and the grocery store.
- The map is community-sourced, not an official inventory. Pins come from OpenStreetMap tags with
surveillance:type=ALPR— the same feed DeflockSC uses. Missing cameras happen. Report what you find there. - This is research, not a political endorsement. I am not affiliated with DeflockSC. I track the layer so buyers and neighbors can see it next to permits and road projects, then decide what it means for them.