Shape from Positional-Contrast: Characterising Sketches with Qualitative Line Arrangements

Graphical queries for the purpose of searching for pictorial information are of growing interest in areas where pictures provide valuable information, including, for instance, design, architecture, and engineering. Sketching graphical queries is a natural way of revealing the visual appearance of objects one has in mind.
Björn Gottfried develops computationally effective concepts for dealing with shape, in particular imprecise and incomplete sketched shapes. He exemplarily applies his method using graphical queries to search for historical objects. Specifying objects graphically, he shows that the new method is in fact capable of dealing with imprecise sketches.
Generally speaking, the notion of positional-contrast is introduced. It defines how patterns can be robustly dealt with. That is, the new representation distinguishes patterns by how they relate with regard to spatial relations. This notion can be applied for several purposes, including pattern recognition, motion analysis, and texture analysis.