Adding Spatial Semantics to Image Annotations

In this paper we discuss a the support of users in adding spatial information semi-automatically to annotations of images. Descriptions of objects depicted in an image are extended with information about the position of those objects. We distinguish two types of spatial concepts: absolute positions of objects (e.g., east, west) and relative spatial relations between objects (e.g., left, above). We show the use of a tool for a collection of art paintings with preexisting RDF annotations, including a list of image objects. First, the tool segments a painting into regions. The user selects regions, and labels these with objects from the existing annotation. Then, the tool computes absolute positions and relative spatial relations of the selected regions, and adds these to the annotation. A small evaluation study is reported in which annotations generated by the tool are compared to manual annotations by ten volunteers.