BuRS: a building recognition system

Abstract

In this paper the design of a novel building extraction system, entitled BuRS, is proposed. It is capable of identifying man-made structures that are visible in monocular greyscale aerial photography of rural settlements and sparsely built-up areas. The system design is texture measure driven; integrates both edges and regions; and does not utilise an explicit model of the structures being sought for. One specific component of BuRS is investigated in detail, namely the region formation component. The region formation component incorporates a region growing operator devised by the authors and entitled "the homogeneous operator". We demonstrate that this operator can successfully locate structures exhibiting a homogeneous appearance and has utility in being the first primary processing stage of a building recognition system.