Anomaly Detection
Point your camera at a scene and the app outlines edges and shapes in real time to help you spot anomalies.
Anomaly Detection opens a live camera view and analyses every frame as it arrives, drawing bright outlines around the edges it finds. While you scan, it quietly keeps the frames that look genuinely different from what it has already collected, so you end up with a set of distinct views to review rather than hundreds of near-identical ones. You can also hand it a photo or a video to analyse on its own screen.
Overview
| Control | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Live camera view | Rear wide-angle camera feed |
| Outline overlay | Detected edges drawn on top of the feed |
| Three-dot button | Opens the options dropdown |
| Pick From Camera | Take one photo and analyse it |
| Pick From Photo Library | Choose a saved photo or video to analyse |
| Review | Open the list of frames kept during scanning |
| Back arrow | Stops the camera and returns |
How the outlines are produced
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1. Convert to grey | Colour is removed so only light and shade matter |
| 2. Soften | A small blur removes speckle that would otherwise look like edges |
| 3. Find edges | Sharp changes in brightness are traced as edges |
| 4. Trace outlines | The outer boundary of each shape is followed |
| 5. Draw | Every outline is drawn in bright green, two pixels thick |
Only the outer boundary of each shape is drawn, which keeps a busy scene readable instead of filling it with detail.
How frames are kept
| Detail | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| How often a frame is considered | Roughly every fifth frame |
| How similarity is judged | The frame's overall brightness pattern is compared with each frame already kept |
| Kept when | It is less than about 50% similar to everything already collected |
| Skipped when | It closely matches a frame already collected |
| Where kept frames go | The review list, reachable from Review |
Automatic keeping happens during the live scan only. As soon as you choose Pick From Camera, Pick From Photo Library or Review, the live collection pauses, so browsing your results never adds more frames.
Getting Here
- Open Anomaly Detection from its entry point in the app.
- Allow camera access if you are asked. If you have denied it before, an alert titled Camera Permission Denied appears reading "Please enable Camera permission in settings to use this feature."
- The camera starts and the overlay begins drawing outlines within a moment.
The screen locks to portrait on iPhone. On iPad it locks to landscape if you opened it in landscape, so the view stays steady while you sweep the camera.
Scan a Scene Live
- Aim the rear camera at the area you want to inspect.
- Watch the overlay — edges and shape boundaries are outlined as you move.
- Sweep slowly. Distinct, well-framed views are the ones most likely to be kept.
- When you have covered the area, open the three-dot menu and choose Review to go through what was collected.
Move in short, deliberate steps with a brief pause at each viewpoint. Sweeping quickly produces frames that all look alike, and near-identical frames are deliberately discarded.
Edge outlines are a visual aid, not a judgement. The app highlights where shapes and boundaries are; deciding whether something is actually an anomaly is your call.
Analyse a Photo or Video
- Tap the three-dot button to open the menu.
- Choose a source:
| Choice | What it accepts |
|---|---|
| Pick From Camera | One new photo taken now |
| Pick From Photo Library | A saved photo or a video |
- Your selection opens in Anomaly Details, where the outlines are applied. For a video, the frames are processed as it plays and you get playback controls.
- Tap the back arrow on that screen to return here and pick something else.
Pick From Camera takes photos only. If you want to analyse footage, record it first and choose it with Pick From Photo Library.
Review Detected Images
- Tap the three-dot button and choose Review.
- The detected-images list opens with every frame kept during scanning, plus anything added from a picked photo or video.
- Work through the list to compare views.
- Return to keep scanning — the live collection resumes when you come back to the camera.
How This Connects
- Where the images come from. Live frames come from the rear camera while this screen is open. Picked items come from your camera or photo library. Nothing is fetched from the server, so the whole screen works offline.
- Where results go. Kept frames are held in the app's detected-images collection for this session and are reachable from Review and from Anomaly Details, which adds to the same collection. They are not uploaded to your organisation.
- Camera and photo permissions are shared. The camera grant is the same one used by Scan to PDF and QR Code Scanner on the Tools screen and by Photo Drawing. Choosing from your library uses the photo-library grant; if it is off, an alert titled Photo Access Denied appears reading "Please enable Photos permission in settings to use this feature." See Permission Required and Permissions.
- Keeping a finding. To hold on to something you have spotted, capture it separately and mark it up in Photo Drawing, which saves to your device library and can be attached to an incident — see Incident Additional Tab.
- Offline and reconnect. Everything on this screen is on-device, so signal makes no difference to detection, review or picking files.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| The screen is black with no camera | Camera access is off, or no rear camera was found. Turn Camera on for REDENES in Settings and reopen the screen |
| "Camera Permission Denied" appears | Tap OK, switch Camera on in Settings, then reopen Anomaly Detection |
| "Photo Access Denied" appears | Turn Photos on for REDENES in Settings, then use Pick From Photo Library again |
| No outlines are drawn | The scene is too flat or too dark for edges to be found; add light or point at something with more contrast |
| The whole screen fills with outlines | The scene is very busy or noisy; move closer to the subject or steady the camera |
| Review is empty after scanning | Every frame looked too similar to be kept. Sweep more slowly, pausing at each viewpoint |
| Nothing new is added while you scan | Automatic keeping is paused because you picked an item or opened Review; return to the live camera to resume |
| Videos do not appear under Pick From Camera | That option takes photos only — record first, then use Pick From Photo Library |
| The view will not rotate | By design — the screen locks its orientation so the overlay stays steady |
| The device gets warm or the battery drops | Expected: the camera and analysis run continuously. Leave the screen when you are not actively scanning |
Related Pages
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