IMAGINE Objective provides object based multi-scale image classification and feature extraction capabilities to reliably build and maintain accurate geospatial content. With IMAGINE Objective, imagery and geospatial data of all kinds can be analyzed to produce GIS-ready mapping.

Addressing Business Problems
Globally, GIS departments and mapping institutions invest considerable revenue into creating and, perhaps more importantly, maintaining their geospatial databases. As the Earth is constantly changing, even the most precise base mapping must be updated or replaced regularly. Traditionally, the capture and update of geospatial information has been done through labor and cost intensive manual digitization (for example from aerial photographs) and surveying. More accurate and complete information increases the value and ease of analysis. Remotely sensed imagery, whether airborne or satellite based, provides a rich source of timely information if it can be easilly exploited into useable information. This transformation of data into tailored, relevant information provides benefits to a number of industries:

§ Insurance companies
Can determine the prescence or absence of swimming pools within land ownership parcels to correct liability insurance policies.

§ Utility companies
Can identify and map the location of assets, such as man-hole covers, across a city-wide sewerage network. With assets installed over a long period of time, possibly by other companies, many utility companies have inaccurate or incomplete historical records.

§ Local government institiutions
Mapping urban growth (such as roads and buildings) can maintain a usable geospatial database for use by First Responders, tax departments, planners, etc. When disasters strike, the abiltiy to rapidly identify the location of damaged houses or other infrastructure is critical to minimise the loss of life and aid in the recovery efforts.

§ Forest management companies
Can more accurately estimate species mix, yield potentials and environmental impacts.

§ Tax assessors
Can better map impervious surfaces and cross reference ownership parcels, increasing the accuracy of tax billing, and promoting better planning

§ State Agencies
Can better manage water rights by mapping agricultural field boundaries and crop types

IMAGINE Objective includes an innovative set of tools for feature extraction, update and change detection, enabling geospatial data layers to be created and maintained through the use of remotely sensed imagery. This technology crosses the boundary of traditional image processing with computer vision through the use of pixel level and true object processing, ultimately emulating the human visual system of image interpretation