Extraction of building polygons from SAR images: Grouping and decision-level in the GESTALT System

The GESTALT-system is a stratified architecture for challenging computer vision tasks. This contribution focuses on the 3rd and 4th layer of it - the grouping and decision layers. As example application building recognition from high resolution SAR-data is presented. The 3rd layer contains an assessment driven perceptual grouping process with any-time capability and flexible control. Important grouping principles such as good continuation and symmetry are utilized. A dynamic programming optimization is used in the final decision and post-processing layer to find closed polygons that describe the outlines of buildings. Further post processing includes polygon editing and consistency enforcement.