학술논문

Crosswalk Localization from Low Resolution Satellite Images to Assist Visually Impaired People
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications IEEE Comput. Grap. Appl. Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE. 38(1):30-46 Feb, 2018
Subject
Computing and Processing
General Topics for Engineers
Global Positioning System
Satellites
Image processing
Image resolution
Computational modeling
Object recognition
Rendering (computer graphics)
image processing
image segmentation
accessibility technologies
Image Based Modeling and Rendering
Language
ISSN
0272-1716
1558-1756
Abstract
In this article, we propose a model for crosswalk detection and localization by using satellite images captured from Google Maps, for the purpose of assisting visually impaired people. The detection is performed by an SVM classifier, which is combined with Google Road Map to speed up computation time and to eliminate some possible false alarms. We assume that a visually impaired person holds a smartphone with an embedded GPS, which is used to initialize the extraction of images from Google Maps, as well as to assist its user by providing audio feedback of the nearest detected crosswalk. This issue brings forward significant interest and it is also very challenging, mainly due to illumination changes, occlusion, image noise and resolution, besides the quality of crosswalks that sometimes are badly painted in many developing countries. Experimental results indicate that the proposed model works well in low resolution images, effectively detecting and localizing crosswalks in simulated scenarios.