Researchers Yeorim Kim and Seong-Yun Hong used unsupervised computer vision to analyze street-level images around locations in Seoul where surveillance cameras had been installed for waste monitoring, revealing three recurring landscape patterns tied to frequent illegal dumping monitoring sites, according to a study published in Computational Urban Science. The camera sites served as a proxy for places authorities had repeatedly identified as problematic, though the researchers noted the proxy does not represent a complete inventory of all illegal dumping sites because vulnerable locations without cameras were not included. Illegal dumping reports in Seoul reached 16,323 in 2023, nearly double the 10,702 reported in 2022, while enforcement actions remained relatively unchanged, with 117,753 cases recorded in 2022 and 124,326 in 2023. Nationally, approximately 1,179,000 tons of waste were illegally discarded in Korea between 2017 and 2021. Of Seoul's 25 districts, only 11 provided the required data, and the final dataset comprised the coordinates of 1,085 surveillance cameras as of 22 June 2022. Street-view images were captured from four directions at 90-degree intervals, yielding 4,318 images in total, of which only the 2,160 images showing the left and right sides were used. The authors argue enforcement alone may be insufficient and that understanding which local environments repeatedly become vulnerable to dumping could support more preventive interventions.