Watershed pyramids for edge detection

In this paper, we present a multiresolution implementation of the watershed segmentation algorithm. Our approach uses the morphological pyramid to form a scale space representation, offering a significant reduction in computational cost. In addition to increased efficiency, the multiresolution approach avoids the over-segmentation problem of traditional fixed scale watershed algorithms. As shown in the examples, the watershed pyramids produce edge maps corresponding to the desired scale without sacrificing accuracy in edge location.