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Definiens is a company active in image analysis. Not restricted to the geospatial market only, the company offers solutions for all kinds of imagery used in life sciences and the medical world. Geolnformatics interviewed Ralph D. Humberg, Vice President of Definiens Earth Sciences division. Mr. Humberg joined Definiens in 2002 and is responsible for Definiens' global Earth Sciences business. He talks about eCognition, Definiens' image analysis software used for Earth Sciences. The latest release of the software is eCognition version 8, issued in November last year, along with a new internet portal.
Question: With version 8 you re-re-named your software back to eCognition. What was the reason for that "backto-the- roots" naming?
Ralph Humberg: Definiens introduced object-based image analysis to the geo-sciences industry in 2001 with the release of our eCognition desktop software, see text box 1. We utilized the eCognition brand name for the first four versions of our desktop software. As imaging data sets grew in complexity and size, Definiens pioneered client-server capabilities beginning with eCognition version 5. With a broadened suite of products associated with our client-server offerings, we introduced additional brand names. Our server has always been known as "eCognition" and the brand name possesses a great deal of cachet in the industry. We believe the majority of the geo-sciences community is now moving toward client-server processing and with the introduction of eCognition version 8, we now refer to the complete product suite under the "eCognition" brand.
Q: Many people are convinced of the power of the software, but they find it very complicated to use or to understand the principles behind it Have you done any technical developments to make the "world of OBIA (object-based image analysis, see text box 2)" more understandable for the non-experts?
RH: As the leading provider of OBIA for the geo-sciences, we have a large user community, with an installed base of 3000 licensees in more than 80 countries. These users encompass a myriad of disciplines, from remote sensing to geology, hydrology, forestry and urban planning - all of which require image analysis technology. Traditionally, geo-spatial image analysis software has been structured around remote sensing domain expertise. Simplifying that expertise so that it is accessible by increasingly wider authences of non-experts across diverse industries...