The map isn't showing any incidents
Incident data comes directly from the City of Houston's public feed. If the feed is temporarily unavailable the app will display a banner noting the data may be stale. Pull down to refresh or wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists, the City of Houston feed itself may be down.
How current is the data?
The app refreshes automatically every five minutes when in use. The timestamp shown in the header tells you when the data was last fetched. A yellow "stale cache" banner appears if the live feed could not be reached and an older snapshot is being displayed.
A pin appears to be in the wrong location
Incident locations are geocoded from the addresses published by the City of Houston. When an exact street match is not available, the app falls back to a Key Map grid reference, which places the pin at the center of the nearest map grid square rather than the precise address. This is a limitation of the source data.
Can I filter by agency?
Yes. Use the filter buttons in the header to show All incidents, Fire only (HFD), or Police only (HPD).
Does the app use my location?
No. Bayou City Watch does not request or use your device location. It shows a city-wide view of all active incidents.
Does the app collect any personal data?
No. The app collects no personal information and uses no tracking or analytics. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Why is an incident type showing as an unfamiliar code?
Incident type codes and descriptions are supplied verbatim from the City of Houston dispatch system. Some codes are department-internal shorthand. Searching the code alongside "HFD" or "HPD" will usually identify it.
Still need help?
Open an issue on our GitHub repository and we'll get back to you.