CAM-176
A tree jammed across the canal
A whole tree, torn up by the roots, has come to rest across the canal from wall to wall: the crown against one bank, the root ball wedged into the other. Behind it the water has gone still and dark; in front it forces through and foams. Two workers in helmets are setting up a barrier and cones to close the walkway, while a group watches from the railing opposite. IRIS sees that the flow section is blocked and how much the water has risen upstream.
Turn on IRIS Vision
AI-generated image
What IRIS understands
What it recognises in this scene
- tree jammed across the canal
- water backed up upstream
- crew closing the walkway
- people at the railing
- pedestrians walking up
What this camera measures
An alert says something is happening. The reading says how much.
- 26 minBlocked for
- 4 / 5Share of the opening blocked
- +60 cmRisen upstream
- 2Crew on site
- 7Watching from the railing
- 09:55Time of the alert
The figures on this screen are an example from the illustration, not any client's measurement.
The rule
You decide once. IRIS applies it always.
If
a large object comes to a standstill inside the canal and the water rises behind it above the reference course
Then
- alert the maintenance service with the camera, the spot and the video
- say how far the opening has narrowed and how much the water has risen behind
- keep the alert open for as long as the object is still there
The instruction that set it up«Tell me if something big gets jammed across the canal and the water starts backing up behind it.»
What changes
What changes for whoever answers for the site
A blockage in an urban canal is not a problem where the blockage is: it is a problem well upstream, where the water starts to rise without anyone connecting it to a fallen tree. And when the blockage gives way, everything that had backed up comes through at once. Today this is found out by a phone call or on the afternoon round, and by then the water has been rising for half an hour. With IRIS the alert goes out when the tree comes to a stop, with the camera and the video of the moment, and the maintenance service turns up with the machine it actually needs rather than the one it happened to have. The barrier and cones in the picture are what happens afterwards: the alert is what makes it happen in time.
What people usually ask
How does IRIS know that is not part of the canal?
Because it was not there before. The rule is written on top of what the camera sees every day in that reach: the water, the walls, the weeds in the joints. When a large mass appears that was not there and that does not move on, that is what gets reported. A branch floating past sets nothing off; one that lodges across the channel does. The difference is not the size, it is that it stays.
Does it recognise the workers on site?
No. IRIS does not identify anyone: it does not recognise faces, it does not read number plates and it does not store who anybody is. It sees that there are two people working at the edge, which is useful for knowing that somebody is already on site, and nothing more. Not who they are, not which firm they work for, not how long their shift has been.
Can it say whether the canal is going to overflow?
No, and it should not. IRIS does not predict: it says that the opening is blocked, how much of it is still clear and how much the water has risen behind, measured against a stone course visible in the image. With that, somebody who knows the canal decides whether it will hold. That calculation is made by a person with the network's data, not by a camera with a picture.
See it for yourself
Everything comes in. Only what matters gets through.
This sums up what IRIS does with one alert, from the moment it appears until it is closed. The real screen holds far more; this is the main thread.
- You ask
- IRIS searches
- It shows you
Next step
What does a shopping centre see beyond the visitor count?
12 cases: 4 raise an alert when something happens and 8 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
What does an airport see before the queue forms?
14 cases: 7 raise an alert when something happens and 7 only measure. You see each image as it is, and then with what IRIS understands on top.
And the best part
The door was left open at two.Finding out at nine is no use to anyone.
The video tells you at nine. IRIS says it at two, with the camera, the time and the images from that moment. The difference between the two is whether someone can go.
Tell us your problem and we will say whether IRIS understands it, or not yet.
We reply the same working day.