<s>
Image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
or	O
imagery	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
extraction	O
of	O
meaningful	O
information	O
from	O
images	O
;	O
mainly	O
from	O
digital	B-Algorithm
images	I-Algorithm
by	O
means	O
of	O
digital	B-Algorithm
image	I-Algorithm
processing	I-Algorithm
techniques	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
tasks	O
can	O
be	O
as	O
simple	O
as	O
reading	O
bar	O
coded	O
tags	O
or	O
as	O
sophisticated	O
as	O
identifying	O
a	O
person	O
from	O
their	O
face	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
the	O
human	O
visual	O
cortex	O
is	O
an	O
excellent	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
apparatus	O
,	O
especially	O
for	O
extracting	O
higher-level	O
information	O
,	O
and	O
for	O
many	O
applications	O
including	O
medicine	B-Application
,	O
security	O
,	O
and	O
remote	B-Application
sensing	I-Application
human	O
analysts	O
still	O
cannot	O
be	O
replaced	O
by	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
this	O
reason	O
,	O
many	O
important	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
tools	O
such	O
as	O
edge	B-Algorithm
detectors	I-Algorithm
and	O
neural	B-Architecture
networks	I-Architecture
are	O
inspired	O
by	O
human	O
visual	O
perception	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Digital	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Analysis	I-General_Concept
or	O
Computer	B-General_Concept
Image	I-General_Concept
Analysis	I-General_Concept
is	O
when	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
or	O
electrical	O
device	O
automatically	O
studies	O
an	O
image	O
to	O
obtain	O
useful	O
information	O
from	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Note	O
that	O
the	O
device	O
is	O
often	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
but	O
may	O
also	O
be	O
an	O
electrical	O
circuit	O
,	O
a	O
digital	O
camera	O
or	O
a	O
mobile	O
phone	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
involves	O
the	O
fields	O
of	O
computer	B-Application
or	O
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
medical	B-Application
imaging	I-Application
,	O
and	O
makes	O
heavy	O
use	O
of	O
pattern	O
recognition	O
,	O
digital	B-Algorithm
geometry	I-Algorithm
,	O
and	O
signal	O
processing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
field	O
of	O
computer	B-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
developed	O
in	O
the	O
1950s	O
at	O
academic	O
institutions	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
MIT	O
A.I.	B-Application
</s>
<s>
Lab	O
,	O
originally	O
as	O
a	O
branch	O
of	O
artificial	B-Application
intelligence	I-Application
and	O
robotics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
the	O
quantitative	O
or	O
qualitative	O
characterization	O
of	O
two-dimensional	O
(	O
2D	O
)	O
or	O
three-dimensional	O
(	O
3D	O
)	O
digital	B-Algorithm
images	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
2D	O
images	O
are	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
to	O
be	O
analyzed	O
in	O
computer	B-Application
vision	I-Application
,	O
and	O
3D	O
images	O
in	O
medical	B-Application
imaging	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
technique	O
may	O
be	O
useful	O
for	O
a	O
small	O
range	O
of	O
tasks	O
,	O
however	O
there	O
still	O
are	O
n't	O
any	O
known	O
methods	O
of	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
that	O
are	O
generic	O
enough	O
for	O
wide	O
ranges	O
of	O
tasks	O
,	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
abilities	O
of	O
a	O
human	O
's	O
image	O
analysing	O
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
of	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
techniques	O
in	O
different	O
fields	O
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
image	B-Algorithm
segmentation	I-Algorithm
,	O
</s>
<s>
video	B-Operating_System
tracking	I-Operating_System
,	O
</s>
<s>
medical	B-Application
scan	I-Application
analysis	I-Application
,	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-General_Concept
Pose	I-General_Concept
Estimation	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
applications	O
of	O
digital	B-General_Concept
image	I-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
are	O
continuously	O
expanding	O
through	O
all	O
areas	O
of	O
science	O
and	O
industry	O
,	O
including	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
machine	B-General_Concept
vision	I-General_Concept
,	O
such	O
as	O
to	O
automatically	O
count	O
items	O
in	O
a	O
factory	O
conveyor	O
belt	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
medicine	B-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
detecting	O
cancer	O
in	O
a	O
mammography	O
scan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
microscopy	B-Algorithm
,	O
such	O
as	O
counting	O
the	O
germs	O
in	O
a	O
swab	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
automatic	B-Application
number	I-Application
plate	I-Application
recognition	I-Application
;	O
</s>
<s>
optical	B-Application
character	I-Application
recognition	I-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
automatic	O
license	O
plate	O
detection	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
remote	B-Application
sensing	I-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
detecting	O
intruders	O
in	O
a	O
house	O
,	O
and	O
producing	O
land	O
cover/land	O
use	O
maps	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Object-based	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
(	O
OBIA	O
)	O
employs	O
two	O
main	O
processes	O
,	O
segmentation	B-Algorithm
and	O
classification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Traditional	O
image	B-Algorithm
segmentation	I-Algorithm
is	O
on	O
a	O
per-pixel	O
basis	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
applied	O
to	O
earth	O
images	O
,	O
OBIA	O
is	O
known	O
as	O
geographic	O
object-based	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
(	O
GEOBIA	O
)	O
,	O
defined	O
as	O
"	O
a	O
sub-discipline	O
of	O
geoinformation	O
science	O
devoted	O
to	O
(	O
...	O
)	O
partitioning	O
remote	B-Application
sensing	I-Application
(	O
RS	O
)	O
imagery	O
into	O
meaningful	O
image-objects	O
,	O
and	O
assessing	O
their	O
characteristics	O
through	O
spatial	O
,	O
spectral	O
and	O
temporal	O
scale	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Object-based	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
is	O
also	O
applied	O
in	O
other	O
fields	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
cell	O
biology	O
or	O
medicine	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
technique	O
is	O
implemented	O
in	O
software	O
such	O
as	O
eCognition	B-Application
or	O
the	O
Orfeo	B-Language
toolbox	I-Language
.	O
</s>
