Applications of planar shape analysis to image-based inferences

We describe an approach for statistical analysis of shapes of closed curves using tools from differential geometry. This approach uses geodesic paths to define a metric on shape space, that is used to compare shapes, to compute intrinsic statistics for a set of shapes, and to define probability models on shape spaces. We demonstrate this approach using: (i) interpolation of heart-wall boundaries in echocardiographic image sequences; and (ii) a study of shapes of human silhouettes in infrared surveillance images.