<title>Query by sketch in DARWIN: digital analysis to recognize whale images on a network</title>

Abstract

DARWIN is a computer vision system, which helps researchers identify individual bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, by comparing digital images of the dorsal fins of newly photographed dolphins with a database of previously identified dolphin fins. In additional to dorsal fin images, textual information containing sighting data is stored for each of the previously identified dolphins. The software uses a semiautomated process to create an approximation of the fin outline. The outline is used to formulate a sketch- based query of the dolphin database. The system utilizes a variety of image processing and computer vision algorithms to perform the matching process, which is necessary to identify those previously identified fins, which most closely resemble the unknown fin. The program presents the database fin images to the researcher in rank order for comparison with the new fin image.