Objects Description and Extraction by the Use of Straight Line Segments in Digital Images

An advanced edge-based method of feature detection and extraction is developed for object description in digital images. It is useful for the comparison of different images of the same scene in aerial imagery, for describing and recognizing categories, for automatic building extraction and for finding the mutual regions in image matching. The method includes directional filtering and searching for straight edge segments in every direction and scale, taking into account edge gradient signs. Line segments are ordered with respect to their orientation and average gradients in the region in question. These segments are used for the construction of an object descriptor. A hierarchical set of feature descriptors is developed, taking into consideration the proposed straight line segment detector. Comparative performance is evaluated on the noisy model and in real aerial and satellite imagery.