Computer-assisted tree taxonomy by automated image recognition

We present an algorithm that performs image-based queries within the domain of tree taxonomy. As such, it serves as an example relevant to many other potential applications within the field of biodiversity and photo-identification. Unsupervised matching results are produced through a chain of computer vision and image processing techniques, including segmentation and automatic shape matching. The matching itself is based on a nearest neighbours search in an appropriate feature space. Finally, we briefly report on our efforts to set up a webservice to allow the general public to perform such queries online.