Tree crown extraction using marked point processes

In this paper we aim at extracting tree crowns from remotely sensed images. Our approach is to consider that these images are some realizations of a marked point process. The first step is to define the geometrical objects that design the trees, and the density of the process. Then, we use a Reversible Jump MCMC1 dynamics and a simulated annealing to get the maximum a posteriori estimator of the tree crown distribution on the image. Transitions of the Markov chain are managed by some specific proposition kernels. Results are shown on aerial images of poplars provided by IFN.