Comparison of local and global region merging in the topological map

The topological map is a model that represents 2D and 3D images subdivision. It aims to allow the use of topological and geometrical features of the subdivision in image processing operations. When handling regions in an image, one of the main operation is the region merging, for example in segmentation process. This paper presents two algorithms of region merging in 3D topological maps: one local which modifies locally the map around merged regions, and another one global which runs through all the elements of the map. We study their complexities and present experimental results to compare both approaches.