The compass operator detects step edges without assuming that the regions on either side have constant color. Using distributions of pixel colors rather than the mean, the operator finds the orientation of a diameter that maximizes the difference between two halves of a circular window. Junctions can also be detected by exploiting their lack of bilateral symmetry. This approach is superior to a multi-dimensional gradient method in situations that often result in false negatives, and it localizes edges better as scale increases.