Fast Segmentation of High-Resolution Satellite Images Using Watershed Transform Combined with an Efficient Region Merging Approach

High-resolution satellite images like Quickbird images have been applied into many fields. However, researches on segmenting such kind of images are rather insufficient partly due to the complexity and large size of such images. In this study, a fast and accurate segmentation approach was proposed. First, a homogeneity gradient image was produced. Then, an efficient watershed transform was employed to gain the initial segments. Finally, an improved region merging approach was proposed to merge the initial segments by taking a strategy to minimize the overall heterogeneity increased within segments at each merging step, and the final segments were obtained. Compared with the segmentation approach of a commercial software eCognition, the proposed one was a bit faster and a bit more accurate when applied to the Quickbird images.

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