An approach for semi-automatic extraction of features from aerial photographs

Aerial photographs have been evaluated manually by the operators for the extraction of the vector data to produce photogrammetric maps. In the recent years the developments, in the photogrammetry, provides to perform these extraction processes automatically. In this study, a new semi-automatic feature extraction approach, based on the segmentation of the images using color-differences of the pixels and the propogation of fronts by the Level Set algorithms, is developed. An object-oriented application software is also developed to test the capabilities of the developed method. Some semi-automatic feature extraction applications are made by the help of the developed software using 1:4000 and 1:35000 scale black/white aerial photographs for determining the capabilities of this method. The results of the tests show that this method can be used for the extraction of some features from aerial photographs for GIS and the production of the photogrammetric maps.