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Identification of Practically Visible Spatial Objects in Natural Environments

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Book cover Advances in GIScience

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography ((LNGC))

Abstract

Image retrieval of landscape photographs requires accurate annotation using multi-faceted descriptions relating to the subject and content of the photograph. The subject of such photographs is dominantly the terrain and spatial objects visible from the photographer’s viewpoint. While some spatial objects in the background may be obscured by foreground vegetation, other visible spatial objects beyond a certain distance may not present noteworthy elements of the captured scene (such as distant houses). Our aim is to assess approaches to improve the identification of practically visible spatial objects for image annotation. These approaches include the consideration of the apparent spatial object size and landcover information about occluding vegetation. These inputs are used to enhance viewshed analysis to accurately identify only spatial objects practically visible and therefore likely to be notable subjects of a photograph. The two approaches are evaluated in an experiment in a semi-rural area of Switzerland, whose results indicate that visual magnitude is key in accurate identification of visible spatial objects.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GIS Division, Department of Geography, University of Zurich-Irchel, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland

    Martin Tomko, Friedjoff Trautwein & Ross  S. Purves

Authors
  1. Martin Tomko
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  2. Friedjoff Trautwein
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  3. Ross  S. Purves
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Tomko .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Universität Hannover Inst. Kartographie und Geoinformatik, Appelstraße 9a, 30167, Hannover, Germany

    Monika Sester  & Volker Paelke  & 

  2. TU Dresden Fak. Forst-, Geo- und Hydrowissenschaften, Helmholtzstr. 10, 01069 , Dresden, Germany

    Lars Bernard

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Tomko, M., Trautwein, F., Purves, R.S. (2009). Identification of Practically Visible Spatial Objects in Natural Environments. In: Sester, M., Bernard, L., Paelke, V. (eds) Advances in GIScience. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00318-9_1

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