Image segmentation and object-based image analysis for environmental monitoring: Recent areas of interest, researchers' views on the future priorities

Abstract

Image segmentation and geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) were proposed around the turn of the century as a means to analyze high-spatial-resolution remote sensing images. Since then, object-based approaches have been used to analyze a wide range of images for numerous applications. In this Editorial, we present some highlights of image segmentation and GEOBIA research from the last two years (2018-2019), including a Special Issue published in the journal Remote Sensing. As a final contribution of this special issue, we have shared the views of 45 other researchers (corresponding authors of published papers on GEOBIA in 2018-2019) on the current state and future priorities of this field, gathered through an online survey. Most researchers surveyed acknowledged that image segmentation/GEOBIA approaches have achieved a high level of maturity, although the need for more free user-friendly software and tools, further automation, better integration with new machine-learning approaches (including deep learning), and more suitable accuracy assessment methods was frequently pointed out.