Abstract
Image segmentation’s role in image processing represents and describes an image’s different information into a simpler and understandable format. Usually, image segmentation is the initial step of a higher level operation in an image-processing system. Labeling and tracking of objects are examples of the higher level operation that is usually performed after image segmentation. Image segmentation step can segment a data with one (a.k.a., 8 bits gray scale data) or three dimensions (a.k.a., 24 bits color data). The use of two different types of data for image segmentation has its benefits and limitations. For instance, the 8 bits data is less prone to noise, while 24 bits data has additional information. Image segmentation is much more complex than an image classification to classify data or tracking object in practice. Thus, this chapter begins by explaining the concept of image segmentation and then compares its working and benefits with image classification. Of segmentation techniques, the clustering needs very little prior information of an image to segment it. Few other segmentation techniques are widely used for image segmentation, and comparison between the well-known segmentation techniques is presented in this chapter.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abad, F., Garcia-Consuegra, J., & Cisneros, G. (2000). Merging regions based on the VDM distance. In IGARSS 2000. IEEE 2000 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. Taking the Pulse of the Planet: The Role of Remote Sensing in Managing the Environment. Proceedings (Cat. No. 00CH37120) (Vol. 2, pp. 615–617). IEEE.
Almeida, J., Barbosa, L., Pais, A., & Formosinho, S. (2007). Improving hierarchical cluster analysis: A new method with outlier detection and automatic clustering. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 87(2), 208–217.
Anil, P. N., & Natarajan, S. (2010). Automatic road extraction from high resolution imagery based on statistical region merging and skeletonization. International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 2(3), 165–171.
Bernsen, J. (1986). Dynamic thresholding of gray-level images. Paper presented at the Proc. Eighth Int’l conf. Pattern Recognition, Paris, 1986.
Bezdek, J. C. (1980). A convergence theorem for the fuzzy ISODATA clustering algorithms. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 2(1), 1–8.
Bins, L. S. A., Fonseca, L. G., Erthal, G. J., & Ii, F. M. (1996). Satellite imagery segmentation: a region growing approach. Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto, 8(1996), 677–680.
Boukharouba, S., Rebordao, J. M., & Wendel, P. L. (1985). An amplitude segmentation method based on the distribution function of an image. Computer vision, graphics, and image processing, 29(1), 47–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0734-189x(85)90150-1
Chih-Cheng, H., Kulkarni, S., & Bor-Chen, K. (2011). A new weighted fuzzy c-means clustering algorithm for remotely sensed image classification. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing, 5(3), 543–553. https://doi.org/10.1109/jstsp.2010.2096797
Cho, S., Haralick, R., & Yi, S. (1989). Improvement of Kittler and Illingworth’s minimum error thresholding. Pattern recognition, 22(5), 609–617.
Chuang, K.-S., Tzeng, H.-L., Chen, S., Wu, J., & Chen, T.-J. (2006). Fuzzy c-means clustering with spatial information for image segmentation. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics, 30(1), 9–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compmedimag.2005.10.001
Cui, S., Yan, Q., & Reinartz, P. (2012). Complex building description and extraction based on Hough transformation and cycle detection. Remote Sensing Letters, 3(2), 151–159.
Dare, P. M. (2005). Shadow analysis in high-resolution satellite imagery of urban areas. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 71(2), 169–177.
Derrien, M., & Le Gléau, H. (2007). Temporal-differencing and region-growing techniques to improve twilight low cloud detection from SEVIRI data. In Proceedings of the Joint 2007 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference and the 15th Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography Conference of the American Meteorological Society (Vol. 2428, p. 2428), Amsterdam: The Netherlands.
Devereux, B. J., Amable, G. S., & Posada, C. C. (2004). An efficient image segmentation algorithm for landscape analysis. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 6(1) 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2004.07.007.
Dixon, S. J., Heinrich, N., Holmboe, M., Schaefer, M. L., Reed, R. R., Trevejo, J., & Brereton, R. G. (2009). Use of cluster separation indices and the influence of outliers: Application of two new separation indices, the modified silhouette index and the overlap coefficient to simulated data and mouse urine metabolomic profiles. Journal of Chemometrics, 23(1), 19–31.
Doyle, W. (1962). Operations useful for similarity-invariant pattern recognition. Journal of the ACM (JACM), 9(2), 259–267.
Du, Q., & Gunzburger, M. (2002). Grid generation and optimization based on centroidal Voronoi tessellations. Applied Mathematics and Computation, 133(2), 591–607.
Faruquzzaman, A. B. M., Paiker, N. R., Arafat, J., & Ali, M. A. (2008). A survey report on image segmentation based on split and merge algorithm. IETECH Journal of Advanced Computations, 2(2), 86–101.
Faruquzzaman, A. B. M., Paiker, N. R., Arafat, J., Ali, M. A., & Sorwar, G. (2009). Robust Object Segmentation using Split-and-Merge. International Journal of Signal and Imaging Systems Engineering, 2(1/2), 70. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSISE.2009.029332
Gonzalez, R. C., Woods, R. E., & Eddins, S. L. (2003). Digital Image Processing Using MATLAB.
Guha, S., Rastogi, R., & Shim, K. (2000). ROCK: A robust clustering algorithm for categorical attributes. Information Systems, 25(5), 345–366.
Guha, S., Rastogi, R., & Shim, K. (2001). Cure: An efficient clustering algorithm for large databases. Information Systems, 26(1), 35–58.
Hamerly, G., & Elkan, C. (2002). Alternatives to the k-means algorithm that find better clusterings. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, McLean, Virginia, USA.
Hathaway, R. J., Bezdek, J. C., & Hu, Y. (2000). Generalized fuzzy c-means clustering strategies using Lp norm distances. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 8(5), 576–582.
Hemachander, S., Verma, A., Arora, S., & Panigrahi, P. K. (2007). Locally adaptive block thresholding method with continuity constraint. Pattern Recognition Letters, 28(1), 119–124.
Horowitz, S. L., & Pavlidis, T. (1976). Picture Segmentation by a Tree Traversal Algorithm. Journal of the ACM, 23(2), 368–388. https://doi.org/10.1145/321941.321956
Huang, L. K., & Wang, M. J. J. (1995). Image thresholding by minimizing the measures of fuzziness. Pattern recognition, 28(1), 41–51.
Hung, W. L., Yang, M. S., & Chen, D. H. (2008). Bootstrapping approach to feature-weight selection in fuzzy c-means algorithms with an application in color image segmentation. Pattern Recognition Letters, 29(9), 1317–1325.
Huynh Van, L., & Jong-Myon, K. (2009, August 20–24). A generalized spatial fuzzy c-means algorithm for medical image segmentation. Paper presented at the Fuzzy Systems, 2009. IEEE International Conference on FUZZ-IEEE 2009.
Isa, N. A. M., Salamah, S. A., & Ngah, U. K. (2009). Adaptive fuzzy moving K-means clustering algorithm for image segmentation. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 55(4), 2145–2153.
Ismail, S. M., Abdullah, S. N. H. S., & Fauzi, F. (2018). Statistical binarization techniques for document image analysis. Journal of Computer Science, 14(1), 23–36.
Jawahar, C., Biswas, P., & Ray, A. (1997). Investigations on fuzzy thresholding based on fuzzy clustering. Pattern Recognition, 30(10), 1605–1613.
Jianzhuang, L., Wenqing, L., & Yupeng, T. (1991). Automatic thresholding of gray-level pictures using two-dimension Otsu method. Paper presented at the Circuits and Systems, 1991. 1991 International Conference on Conference Proceedings, China.
Jin, Z., Lou, Z., Yang, J., & Sun, Q. (2007). Face detection using template matching and skin-color information. Neurocomputing, 70(4–6), 794–800. https//doi.org/10.1016/j.neucom.2006.10.043
Jinhai, C., & Zhi-Qiang, L. (1998, August 16–20). A new thresholding algorithm based on all-pole model. Paper presented at the Pattern Recognition, 1998. Fourteenth International Conference on Proceedings.
Kampke, T., & Kober, R. (1998, August 16–20). Nonparametric optimal binarization. Paper presented at the Pattern Recognition, 1998. Fourteenth International Conference on Proceedings.
Karypis, G., Han, E. H., & Kumar, V. (1999). Chameleon: Hierarchical clustering using dynamic modeling. Computer, 32(8), 68–75.
Kersten, P. R. (1999). Fuzzy order statistics and their application to fuzzy clustering. IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 7(6), 708–712.
Khoshelham, K., Li, Z., & King, B. (2005). A Split-and-Merge Technique for Automated Reconstruction of Roof Planes. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 71(7), 855–862. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.71.7.855
Khotanzad, A., & Bouarfa, A. (1990). Image segmentation by a parallel, non-parametric histogram based clustering algorithm. Pattern Recognition, 23(9), 961–973.
Kittler, J., & Illingworth, J. (1986). Minimum error thresholding. Pattern Recognition, 19(1), 41–47.
Lang, X., Zhu, F., Hao, Y., & Ou, J. (2008). Integral image based fast algorithm for two-dimensional Otsu thresholding. Paper presented at the Image and Signal Processing, 2008. Congress on CISP’08.
Lloyd, D. (1985). Automatic target classification using moment invariant of image shapes. IDN AW126, RAE, Farnborough, Reino Unido.
Lucieer, A., & Stein, A. (2002). Existential uncertainty of spatial objects segmented from satellite sensor imagery. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 40(11), 2518–2521. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2002.805072
Manousakas, I. N., Undrill, P. E., Cameron, G. G., & Redpath, T. W. (1998). Split-and-Merge Segmentation of Magnetic Resonance Medical Images: Performance Evaluation and Extension to Three Dimensions. Computers and Biomedical Research, 31(6), 393–412. https://doi.org/10.1006/cbmr.1998.1489
Mashor, M. Y. (2000). Hybrid training algorithm for RBF network. International Journal of The Computer, The Internet and Management, 8(2), 50–65.
Mazonakis, M., Damilakis, J., Varveris, H., Prassopoulos, P., Gourtsoyiannis, N. (2001). Image segmentation in treatment planning for prostate cancer using the region growing technique. The British Journal of Radiology, 74(879), 243–249. https/doi.org/10.1259/bjr.74.879.740243
Meethongjan, K., Dzulkifli, M., Rehman, A., & Saba, T. (2010). Face recognition based on fusion of Voronoi diagram automatic facial and wavelet moment invariants. International Journal Video Process Image Process Netw Secur, 10(4), 1–8.
Murthy, C. A., & Pal, S. K. (1990). Fuzzy thresholding: Mathematical framework, bound functions and weighted moving average technique. Pattern Recognition Letters, 11(3), 197–206.
Nedzved, A., Ablameyko, S., & Pitas, I. (2000). Morphological segmentation of histology cell images. In, 2000. Published by the IEEE Computer Society.
Olivo, J. C. (1994). Automatic threshold selection using the wavelet transform. CVGIP: Graphical Models and Image Processing, 56(3), 205–218.
Olson, C. F. (1995). Parallel algorithms for hierarchical clustering. Parallel Computing, 21(8), 1313–1325.
Otsu, N. (1975). A threshold selection method from gray-level histograms. Automatica, 11(285-296), 23–27.
Pal, S. K., & Rosenfeld, A. (1988). Image enhancement and thresholding by optimization of fuzzy compactness. Pattern Recognition Letters, 7(2), 77–86.
Pavlidis, T., & Horowitz, S. L. (1974) Segmentation of Plane Curves. IEEE Transactions on Computers C-23(8), 860–870. https//doi.org/10.1109/T-C.1974.224041
Pham, D. L., Xu, C., & Prince, J. L. (2000). Current methods in medical image segmentation 1. Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 2(1), 315–337.
Pohle, R., & Toennies, K. D. (2001). A new approach for model-based adaptive region growing in medical image analysis. In International conference on computer analysis of images and patterns (pp. 238–246). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Pun, T. (1981). Entropic thresholding, a new approach. Computer Graphics and Image Processing, 16(3), 210–239.
Ramesh, N., Yoo, J. H., & Sethi, I. K. (1995). Thresholding based on histogram approximation. IEE Proceedings - Vision, Image and Signal Processing, 142(5), 271–279. https://doi.org/10.1049/ip-vis:19952007
Rau, J.-Y., & Chen, L.-C. (2003). Robust Reconstruction of Building Models from Three-Dimensional Line Segments. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 69(2), 181–188. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.69.2.181
Ridler, T., & Calvard, S. (1978). Picture thresholding using an iterative selection method. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 8(8), 630–632.
Rosenfeld, A., & De La Torre, P. (1983). Histogram concavity analysis as an aid in threshold selection. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC-13(2), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1109/tsmc.1983.6313118
Sahoo, P. K., Soltani, S., & Wong, A. K. (1988). A survey of thresholding techniques. Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing, 41(2), 233–260.
Samopa, F., & Asano, A. (2009). Hybrid image thresholding method using edge detection. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 9(4), 292–299.
Sengupta, K., Shiqin, W., Ko, C. C., & Burman, P. (2000). Automatic face modeling from monocular image sequences using modified non parametric regression and an affine camera model. In Proceedings Fourth IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (Cat. No. PR00580) (pp. 524–529).
Sezgin, M. (2004). Survey over image thresholding techniques and quantitative performance evaluation. Journal of Electronic Imaging, 13(1), 146–168.
Shih, F. Y. (2010). Image processing and pattern recognition: Fundamentals and techniques. Wiley.
Siddiqui, F. U. (2012). Enhanced clustering algorithms for gray-scale image segmentation. Master dissertation, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Siddiqui, F. U., & Mat Isa, N. A. (2011). Enhanced moving K-means (EMKM) algorithm for image segmentation. IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, 57(2), 833–841. https://doi.org/10.1109/tce.2011.5955230
Sun, Y., & Bhanu, B. (2009). Symmetry integrated region-based image segmentation. In 2009 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 826–831.
Taghizadeh, M., & Hajipoor, M. (2011). A hybrid algorithm for segmentation of MRI images based on edge detection. Paper presented at the Soft Computing and Pattern Recognition (SoCPaR), 2011 international conference of.
Tizhoosh, H. R. (2005). Image thresholding using type II fuzzy sets. Pattern Recognition, 38(12), 2363–2372.
Trussell, H. (1979). Comments on. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 9(5), 311–311.
Tsai, D. M. (1995). A fast thresholding selection procedure for multimodal and unimodal histograms. Pattern Recognition Letters, 16(6), 653–666.
Vantaram, S. R., & Saber, E. (2012). Survey of contemporary trends in color image segmentation. Journal of Electronic Imaging, 040901-040901-040901-040928.
Viola, P., & Jones, M. J. (2004). Robust real-time face detection. International Journal of Computer Vision, 57(2), 137–154.
Wang, X., Wang, Y., & Wang, L. (2004). Improving fuzzy c-means clustering based on feature-weight learning. Pattern Recognition Letters, 25(10), 1123–1132.
Whatmough, R. (1991). Automatic threshold selection from a histogram using the “exponential hull”. CVGIP: Graphical Models and Image Processing, 53(6), 592–600.
Xiao, Y., Cao, Z., & Zhuo, W. (2011). Type-2 fuzzy thresholding using GLSC histogram of human visual nonlinearity characteristics. Optics Express, 19(11), 10656–10672.
Xu, R., & Wunsch, D. (2005). Survey of clustering algorithms. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 16(3), 645–678.
Yang, M. S., Hwang, P. Y., & Chen, D. H. (2004). Fuzzy clustering algorithms for mixed feature variables. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 141(2), 301–317.
Yanni, M., & Horne, E. (1994). A new approach to dynamic thresholding. Paper presented at the EUSIPCO’94: 9th European Conf. Sig. Process.
Yong, Y., Chongxun, Z., & Pan, L. (2004, September 14–16). Image thresholding based on spatially weighted fuzzy c-means clustering. Paper presented at the Computer and Information Technology, 2004. The fourth international conference on CIT ‘04.
Zhang, T., Ramakrishnan, R., & Livny, M. (1997). BIRCH: A new data clustering algorithm and its applications. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 1(2), 141–182.
Zhao, Y., Karypis, G., & Fayyad, U. (2005). Hierarchical clustering algorithms for document datasets. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 10(2), 141–168.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Siddiqui, F.U., Yahya, A. (2022). Introduction to Image Segmentation and Clustering. In: Clustering Techniques for Image Segmentation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81230-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81230-0_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-81229-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-81230-0
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)