A spatial dependence approach to retrieving industrial complexes from digital images

This article reports preliminary results of using a spatial dependence approach to retrieving industrial building complexes from digital aerial photographs. Because image retrieval was originally developed outside geography, this paper first discusses the principle of image retrieval in the context of geographic studies, the basic types of geographic features for retrieval, and the spatially dependent nature of geographic features. Based on these discussions, the spatial dependence approach is presented for the intended retrieval. Semivariogram is used to represent the spatial dependence of geographic features and for the subsequent retrieval of these features. Results show the effectiveness of this approach and warrant further investigations.