Satellite imagery

A system to align two images, the system comprising:

• a feature set database to store candidate feature sets extracted from image blocks of a first image;
• an anchor block searcher to identify anchor blocks by searching for said candidate feature sets that match a query feature set extracted from an image block from a second image, using a similarity search;
• an image aligner to align said anchor blocks in said first image and said anchor blocks in said second image, hence aligning said first image and said second image;
• and
• a block tabulator to correlate and tabulate image blocks from said first aligned image and image blocks from said second aligned image.

A system to refine segmented image categories, the system comprising;

• a pixel feature set extractor to extract pixel level feature sets corresponding to segmented image blocks, said segmented image blocks having data and category metadata;
• a known sub-category database to store known sub-category feature sets extracted from segmented images with known sub-categories;
• a pixel feature set searcher to match query pixel feature sets to candidate known sub-category feature sets using a similarity search;
• and
• a sub-category assigner to add sub-category metadata to said segmented image block metadata.

A method for detecting changes between two temporally different images, the method comprising:

• dividing a first image into a plurality of first image blocks, and dividing a second image into a plurality of second image blocks;
• encoding said first image blocks into first feature sets, and encoding said second image blocks into second feature sets;
• aligning said first image and said second image by searching for matching anchor vectors in said first feature sets and said second feature sets using a similarity search;
• encoding a first correlated image block into a first feature set, and encoding a second correlated image block into a second feature set;
• producing a change feature set from said first and second feature sets of said aligned image blocks;
• decoding and segmenting said aligned image blocks to create a segmented change image block from said change feature set;
• and
• combining a plurality of said segmented change image blocks in to a segmented change image.

A method to align two images, the method comprising:

• storing candidate feature sets extracted from image blocks of a first image;
• identifying anchor blocks by searching for said candidate feature sets that match a query feature set extracted from an image block from a second image, using a similarity search;
• aligning said anchor blocks in said first image and said anchor blocks in said second image, thereby to align said first image and said second image;
• and
• correlating and tabulating image blocks from said first aligned image and image blocks from said second aligned image blocks.

A method to refine segmented image categories, the method comprising;

• extracting pixel feature sets corresponding to segmented image blocks, said segmented image blocks having data and category metadata;
• storing known sub-category feature sets extracted from segmented images with known sub-categories;
• matching query pixel feature sets to candidate known sub-category feature sets using a similarity search;
• assigning sub-categories to said matched feature sets;
• and
• adding sub-category metadata to said stored segmented image block metadata.