Book Description

The articles included in this volume were presented at the 13th International Workshop on Combinatorial Image Analysis, IWCIA 2009, held at Playa del Carmen, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, November 24-27, 2009. The 12 previous meetings were held in Paris (France) 1991, Ube (Japan) 1992, Washington DC (USA) 1994,Lyon(France) 1995,Hiroshima(Japan) 1997,Madras(India) 1999, Caen (France) 2000, Philadelphia (USA) 2001, Palermo (Italy) 2003, Auckland (New Zealand) 2004, Berlin (Germany) 2006, and Bu?alo (USA) 2008. Imageanalysisisa scienti?c discipline whichprovidestheoreticalfoundations and methods for solving problems appearing in a range of areas as diverse as biology,medicine,physics,astronomy,geography,chemistry,robotics,andind- trial manufacturing. It deals with algorithms and methods aimed at extracting meaningful information from images. The processing is done through computer systems, and the focus is, therefore, on images presented in digital form. Unlike traditional approaches, which are based on continuous models requiring ?oat arithmetic computations and rounding, “combinatorial” approaches to image analysis (also named “discrete” or “digital” approaches) are based on studying the combinatorial properties of the digital images. They provide models and - gorithms, which are generally more e?cient and accurate than those based on continuous models. Some recent combinatorial approaches aim at constructing self-contained digital topology and geometry, which might be of interest and - portancenot only for imageanalysis,but also asa distinct theoretical discipline. Following the call for papers, IWCIA 2009 received 70 submissions. After a rigorous review process, 32 were accepted for inclusion in this volume.