A robust image retrieval system for mobile guide applications

Abstract

We describe the prototype of an image retrieval system used for mobile guide applications. It allows users to send image queries of urban scenes using camera phones. The system uses a database of views of scenes to determine the poses of query views provided by the users. Information is then mapped onto the query views. Our approach is based on a fully affine invariant descriptor, coined PRIUS, which can identify corresponding building facades across widely separated views despite the highly repetitive nature of the man-made environments. The system is substantiated by experiments that show that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches such as SIFT (scale-invariant feature transform) and MSER (maximally stable external regions) in image retrieval.