Generation of Descriptions for Line Drawings

A l i n e drawing is o f ten represented by a graph w i t h the two p r i m i t i v e s , edges and ver t i c e s , corresponding to l i n e s and t h e i r i n t e r sec t ions . Both p r i m i t i v e s usua l l y have a d d i t i o n a l p roper t i es associated w i t h them. The problem is to generate a concise d e s c r i p t i o n such tha t i t is the most appropr ia te among a set of a l t e r n a t e desc r ip t i ons and a lso tha t i t i s complete a l l observable p roper t i es and r e l a t i o n s in the d i a gram are given by or de r i vab le from statements in the d e s c r i p t i o n . The concept of "app rop r ia te ness" is a q u a l i t a t i v e one, to be measured by comparison w i t h the responses of humans when generat ing d e s c r i p t i o n s .