Spatial Statistics of Image Features for Performance Comparison

When matching images for applications such as mosaicking and homography estimation, the distribution of features across the overlap region affects the accuracy of the result. This paper uses the spatial statistics of these features, measured by Ripley's K-function, to assess whether feature matches are clustered together or spread around the overlap region. A comparison of the performances of a dozen state-of-the-art feature detectors is then carried out using analysis of variance and a large image database. Results show that SFOP introduces significantly less aggregation than the other detectors tested. When the detectors are rank-ordered by this performance measure, the order is broadly similar to those obtained by other means, suggesting that the ordering reflects genuine performance differences. Experiments on stitching images into mosaics confirm that better coverage values yield better quality outputs.