Robust estimation of slow changes in natural outdoor scenes through a geometric matching approach

This paper proposes a method for analysing natural outdoor scenes to find out changes due to slow landslide movements. The analysis is carried out by examining sequences of images and by matching the contours detected in each image, with a set of contours assumed as the model. Once matching is achieved, motion parameters are computed. If a movement is recognized, displacements are estimated in the image plane. The procedure applied to some test sequences has proved itself to be robust with respect to noise and spurious changes due to variable environmental conditions.