I-see: an AI-tool for image understanding

A software environment that supports the implementation of image understanding applications is described. The environment, called I-see, is implemented on top of the object-oriented KEE system and focuses on the iconic representation and exploration of visual data. The system offers an interface between the high-level symbolic reasoning mechanisms of KEE and the raw image data and iconically represented image models or segmentation results. An example problem of interpreting satellite images shows the use of this iconically represented knowledge in the form of a terrain elevation image. In this specific example, the iconic representation could be used directly without the need for a complementary symbolic description. The iconic and symbolic representation schemes can be used to supplement each other and can be related by the use of label images