Road Network Extraction by Hierarchical Grouping

This paper presents an automatic method for road network extraction from low-resolution images using hierarchical grouping technique. The method consists of three major steps: firstly it extracts line features from original images and generates smooth lines in a split-and-merge operation; a hierarchy of line images is created using different thresholds for line length, based on the generated line images; the linear features in the line images are then grouped hierarchically. Finally, knowledge of road networks is applied to remove non-road segments to form a complete road network. The paper includes results of tests on the implementation of these procedures.