Remote image segmentation based on color information

In this paper we propose a new color descriptor and segmentation algorithm for the analysis of aerial images. The main advantages of the proposed segmentation process are: the new color descriptor is related to element/object properties, it is stable and the resulting segmentation contains a reduced number of regions. These features allow us to obtain segmentation of aerial image matching with the terrain characteristics. The proposed color descriptor is the WI (Hue/Intensity) space. It is derived from the HSI color space, taking advantage of the high discrimination power of the Hue and solving the major problems of the HSI space: a high color resolution requires high computing resources, and the RGB to HSI transformation presents singularities. The image segmentation based on region approach is really appropriate for land use applications given that land cover is naturally built-up from regions. We have developed a variation of the region growing algorithm in order to reduce the process time and to generate a low number of regions in the segmented image, that are related to the main land areas.