Delta Complexes in Digital Images. Approximating Image Object Shapes

Abstract: In a computational topology of digital images, simplexes are replaced by Delta sets in approximating image object shapes. For simplicity, simplexes and Delta sets are restricted to the Euclidean plane. A planar simplex is either a vertex, a line segment or a filled triangle. In this study of image shapes, a planar Delta set is a sequence of ordered simplicial complexes. The basic approach is to approximate an image shape by decomposing an image region containing the shape into combinations of Delta sets called Delta complexes. This approach to image shapes is motivated by the ease with which shapes covered by Delta complexes can be measured and compared. A number of basic results directly related to shape analysis are also given in the context of Delta complex proximities.