Image segmentation with topological maps and inter-pixel representation

In this paper we present a data structure that improves region segmentation of 2D images, This data structure provides an efficient access to both geometric features such as the set of pixels of a region and topological features like the frontier of a region, the neighbors of a region or the set of regions included in one region. It allows us to combine different segmentation algorithms without restriction, Interactive refinement or merge of regions can also be performed efficiently. (C) 1998 Academic Press.