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Dog population estimates are fundamental for planning, implementing, and evaluating public health programs. However, dog population estimation is time-consuming, requires many field personnel, may be inaccurate and unreliable, and is not without danger. Our objective was to evaluate a remote method for estimating the population of free-roaming dogs using Google Street View (GSV). Adopting a citizen science approach, participants from Arequipa and other regions in Peru were recruited using social media and trained to use GSV to identify and count free-roaming dogs in 20 urban and 6 periurban communities. We used correlation metrics and negative binomial models to compare the counts of dogs identified in the GSV imagery with accurate counts of free-roaming owned dogs estimated via door-to-door (D2D) survey conducted in 2016. Citizen scientists detected 862 dogs using GSV. After adjusting by the proportion of streets that were scanned with GSV we estimated 1,022 free-roaming dogs, while the 2016 D2D survey estimated 1,536 owned free-roaming dogs across those 26 communities. We detected a strong positive correlation between the number of dogs detected by the two methods in the urban communities (r\u2009=\u20090.85; p\u2009&lt;\u20090.001) and a weak correlation in periurban areas (r\u2009=\u20090.36; p\u2009=\u20090.478). Our multivariable model indicated that for each additional free-roaming dog estimated using GSV, the expected number of owned free-roaming dogs decreased by 2% in urban areas (p\u2009&lt;\u20090.001) and increased by 2% in peri-urban areas (p\u2009=\u20090.004). The type of community (urban vs periurban) had an effect on the predictions, and fitting the models in periurban communities was difficult because of the sparsity of high-resolution GSV images. Using GSV imagery for estimating dog populations is a promising tool, especially in urban areas. Citizen scientists can help to generate information for disease control programs in places with insufficient resources.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0305154","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,31]],"date-time":"2025-07-31T17:31:41Z","timestamp":1753983101000},"page":"e0305154","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Estimation of free-roaming dog populations using Google Street View: A methodological study"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-9107-2143","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Guillermo","family":"Porras","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Elvis W.","family":"Diaz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Micaela","family":"De la Puente-Le\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Cesar M.","family":"Gavidia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6629-2139","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ricardo","family":"Castillo-Neyra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0305154.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1186\/1746-6148-10-91","article-title":"Molecular and serological surveillance of canine enteric viruses in stray dogs from Vila do Maio, Cape Verde","volume":"10","author":"P Castanheira","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMC Vet Res"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0305154.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.1186\/s12917-020-02355-x","article-title":"Seroprevalence and risk factors of canine distemper virus in the pet and stray dogs in Haa, western Bhutan","volume":"16","author":"T Dorji","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMC Vet Res"},{"key":"pone.0305154.ref003","article-title":"\u00f3digo Sanitario para los Animales Terrestres. 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